Sudden death in adolescent asthma

There has been an increase in mortality from asthma in the adolescent age group in the past several years. Although the exact cause of this is not known, a number of factors probably contribute. We have identified four areas of major concern which we believe place adolescents with asthma at high risk. These include physiological factors such as night-time worsening of disease (or "dipping"), non-compliance with the medical regimen, stress associated with daily living and parental expectation, and depression/suicide with asthma as the modality. Identification of those individuals who are at risk and intervention into the contributory factors may reduce asthma deaths.