Special Considerations for Infants and Young Children
Key Points • The care of infants and small children with suspected asthma deserves special consideration because of the potential to modulate the disease process early on and alleviate the…
PEDIATRICS
Exercise-Induced Asthma: Strategies to Improve Performance
Key Points • Prevalence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (with or without baseline asthma) may be as high as 20% of the population of casual exercisers, and much higher in specific risk…
Refractory Childhood Asthma: Assessment and Management
Key Points • Problematic, severe asthma comprises wrong diagnosis (‘not asthma at all’), asthma with co-morbidities (‘asthma plus’), difficult asthma and true severe, therapy-resistant asthma. These patients should undergo a…
Inner City Asthma: Strategies to Reduce Mortality and Morbidity
Key Points • Racial and ethnic minorities and children with low socioeconomic status living in urban communities have a disproportionate burden of asthma morbidity, mortality and healthcare use. • Successful…
Guidelines for Treatment of Asthma: A Global Concern
Key Points • Guideline development is increasingly driven by published data (i.e. evidence based). • Guidelines increasingly focus on asthma control rather than severity. • Asthma control defines current ‘impairment’…
School-Centered Asthma Programs
Key Points • High rates of school absenteeism affect a child’s ability to learn. Every school day in the USA 36,000 children and youth miss school because of asthma. •…
Functional Assessment of Asthma
Key Points • Asthma pathology has defining physiologic correlates, including airflow limitation, heightened airway responsiveness to stimuli and improved airflow in response to bronchodilators. • Spirometry is the most common…
Immunology of the Asthmatic Response
Key Points • Asthma is a complex syndrome that includes many disease phenotypes and endotypes. • Allergic asthma and Type 2 asthma represent the most common phenotype with lung eosinophilia….
Infections and Asthma: Impact on the Natural History of Asthma
Key Points • Wheezing viral respiratory illnesses are the most common initial presentation of childhood asthma. • Once asthma is established, viral infections, most notably rhinovirus (RV), are the most…
Chronic Cough
Key Points • Cough is an important defense mechanism. • Cough is a common manifestation of disease in childhood. • Cough may be classified as acute (lasting <3 weeks), subacute…
