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Relevance of birth cohorts to assessment of asthma persistence

Robert J Hancox1, Padmaja Subbarao, Malcolm R Sears

  • 1Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand. bob.hancox@otago.ac.nz

Current Allergy and Asthma Reports
|March 15, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Persistent asthma in children, defined by continuous symptoms, can lead to early lung function loss. Risk factors include female sex, atopy, and smoking, informing future prevention strategies.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Epidemiology
  • Allergy and Immunology

Background:

  • Persistent asthma in children is characterized by continuous symptoms without remission.
  • Early-childhood wheezing can be transient, particularly viral-induced wheezing.
  • Longitudinal studies are crucial for accurate asthma diagnosis and characterization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To define persistent asthma in longitudinal studies.
  • To identify risk factors for childhood asthma persistence into adulthood.
  • To explore potential strategies for primary asthma prevention.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study design to track asthma symptoms and outcomes.
  • Analysis of clinical phenotypes and their consistency across cohorts.
  • Identification of risk factors including sex, atopy, airway responsiveness, and smoking.

Main Results:

  • Persistent asthma is associated with early loss of lung function, persistent inflammation, and airway hyperresponsiveness.
  • Female sex, atopy, airway responsiveness, and personal smoking are identified as risk factors for asthma persistence.
  • Environmental tobacco smoke exposure was not found to be a risk factor for persistence.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding the natural history of childhood asthma is key to developing prevention strategies.
  • Gene-environment interactions may play a role in asthma outcomes, with breastfeeding effects remaining debated.
  • Identifying persistent asthma phenotypes early can guide interventions to mitigate long-term lung function decline.

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