Outgrowing Asthma
By editor | September 6, 2007
One of the biggest myths about asthma is that most children “just grow out of it.” This isn’t actually the case. A minority of children with asthma will leave asthma behind as they grow older. They generally had only mild asthma in early childhood and usually don’t have allergies. As they grow, their airways become larger, and they stop wheezing and having other asthma symptoms.
An important research study followed a group of children from birth to age six. They were monitored carefully for all respiratory symptoms. ” They also had careful allergy evaluations and specialized lung function testing, beginning at birth. The study found that approximately 40 percent of these children coughed and/or wheezed at least a couple times during their first six years of life. Pretty common problems!
Among the group of children who had respiratory symptoms, one-third had trouble beginning within their first year of life, but those problems disappeared by age three. These were children with “smaller lungs,” and their symptoms were due to viral infections. They didn’t have asthma and had no long-term problems. This is why many health professionals will not attach a label of asthma to a child (especially a baby or a toddler) unless he or she has repeated episodes for a year or more. This is a wise decision, but asthma medicines should not be with held if they have been found to help the child, even if it is not yet certain that the child will develop asthma.
Another third of these children will start to show asthma symptoms early, in their first three years, and continue to have repeated episodes of wheezing and coughing as they get older. These children have asthma. The remaining group of children who had no trouble during their first two or three years of life, but began symptoms later, also have asthma. This group is especially prone to allergy and environmental triggers that create airway inflammation.
Over time, some children can be expected to see their asthma improve. Those who have repeated viral infections during their first ten years of life will slowly begin to have fewer problems with flares created by viral infections. Those with persistent symptoms-signs of airway inflammation ongoing every day will continue to have increasing amounts of airway inflammation or problems if their environmental exposures are not eliminated. They may need medicines every day as well.
As children get older, they may go through long periods when asthma seems to get better on its own. A child who had asthma problems in his early years, but then improved, is still at risk for some difficulties in adult life. A classic example is the adult who begins to have difficulties in his thirties and forties after a long stretch without any asthma symptoms. He may have even forgotten his childhood asthma problems. That’s another important reason for careful, accurate diagnosis early in life followed by a thorough treatment plan that includes regular check , ups and lung function testing. Once they’re old enough, all children with asthma should learn to recognize symptoms whenever they occur and know how to treat them or seek help.
Doctors cannot predict exactly which children will grow out of asthma and which won’t. In general, the milder and less frequent the symptoms, the more likely a child will outgrow it. If your child has more severe asthma along with allergies and a family history of asthma, the chances of outgrowing it aren’t as good.
Tagged under:airway inflammation allergy Asthma asthma medicines asthma symptoms environmental triggers mild asthma respiratory symptoms
Topics: Asthma |
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