Social inequalities in childhood asthma.

Asthma is a complex, heterogeneous condition, broadly characterized by chronic airway inflammation with variable expiratory airflow limitation, but with several subtypes underpinned by different (although likely overlapping) pathological mechanisms. It is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood and represents a significant cost for healthcare systems and affected families. Evidence suggests that a disproportionate proportion of this burden falls on families from disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances (SECs).

Preschool wheeze and asthma endotypes- implications for future therapy.

Introduction: Preschool wheeze and school-aged asthma present a large healthcare burden. Both conditions are now recognized to be heterogeneous, with similar symptom presentation but likely different underlying lung pathology.

Areas Covered: Current treatment options for preschool wheeze are constrained by extrapolations from the management of school-aged children with asthma.

Childhood lung function is associated with adolescent-onset and persistent asthma.

Background: Asthma is associated with impaired lung function; however, it is uncertain if a lower childhood lung function is associated with asthma onset and persistence during adolescence. The aims of the present study were to investigate the association between childhood lung function and onset and persistence of asthma during adolescence.

Methods: In the population-based BAMSE (Sweden), PIAMA (Netherlands) and MAAS (UK) birth cohorts, we analysed the association of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV/FVC and forced expiratory volume at 75% of FVC at age 8 years with asthma onset and persistence in adolescence (age 12-16 years) using cohort-specific logistic regression analysis followed by meta-analysis.

Association of urinary eosinophilic protein X at age 3 years and subsequent persistence of wheezing and asthma diagnosis in adolescence.

Background: Wheezing is common in early life, but most children stop wheezing by school age. However, the prediction of course of wheezing through childhood is difficult.

Objective: To investigate whether urinary EPX (a marker of eosinophil activation) in children at age 3 years may be useful for the prediction of wheeze persistence and future asthma diagnosis.

European Respiratory Society Research Seminar on Preventing Pediatric Asthma.

This report is a summary of the presentations given at the European Respiratory Society's Research Seminar on Asthma Prevention. The seminar reviewed both epidemiological and mechanistic studies and concluded that; (i) reducing exposure of pregnant women and children to air pollution will reduce incident asthma, (ii) there are promising data that both fish oil and a component of raw cow's milk prevent asthma, and (iii) modulating trained immunity by either mimicking helminth infection or oral and sublingual bacterial products is a promising area of research.