An update on paediatric asthma

The challenges of diagnosing bronchial asthma in very young infants in Calabar, Nigeria

“…These difficulties are not peculiar to Increased awareness, education, coupled with high index of suspicion is therefore needed by clinicians to overcome the challenges faced in managing asthma in these young infants. 6,10 …”

“…10 They should be aware that asthma can occur at a very early age and early diagnosis is very important; 9 asthma is associated with a non-reversible impairment of lung function and so anti-inflammatory agents may be indicated at the onset of the symptoms irrespective of age; 1 and also, asthma could be prevented and treated at the community level by prohibition of smoking in public places, relocation from polluted areas to less polluted areas, improvement in indoor-outdoor air quality, etc. 10 For over 24 years, asthma guidelines have been developing globally to increase awareness of asthma among the health problems, improve asthma management, evaluate published reports on asthma and to promote international collaboration in asthma research. 6 Lack of familiarity with guidelines is a common problem among doctors.…”

Paediatrics in Barcelona

“…According to recent asthma treatment standards, treatments primarily aim to control asthma; a recent review attributes a lack of control to many factors [34]. ILYENKOVA et al [35] demonstrated that uncontrolled asthma may be due to infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae or Chlamydia pneumoniae.…”

Paediatric asthma: where to go?

“…As pointed out by HEDLIN et al [3], heterogeneity of asthma in general and problematic asthma in particular makes it ''problematic'' to define phenotypes that provide useful information on pathophysiology, treatment, monitoring of disease and future risk. More objective methods are needed for phenotyping, such as cluster analysis or principle component analysis.…”

“…In this issue, HEDLIN et al [3], in an extensive overview, bring together all novel findings on paediatric asthma and delineate future directions.…”