Severe Asthma in Childhood.

Severe asthma is broadly defined as asthma requiring a high level of therapy, usually high doses of inhaled corticosteroids, to bring under control. Children who remain symptomatic despite such treatment are a heterogeneous population, and bear a high burden of disease and require high resource utilization. Children with severe asthma require a comprehensive evaluation, careful consideration of alternative diagnoses and comorbid conditions, assessment of medication adherence and environmental conditions, and frequent disease monitoring.

Life Cycle of Childhood Asthma: Prenatal, Infancy and Preschool, Childhood, and Adolescence.

Asthma is a heterogeneous developmental disorder influenced by complex interactions between genetic susceptibility and exposures. Wheezing in infancy and early childhood is highly prevalent, with a substantial minority of children progressing to established asthma by school age, most of whom are atopic. Adolescence is a time of remission of symptoms with persistent lung function deficits.

Sleep and respiratory physiology in children.

Maturational changes of breathing during sleep contribute to the unique features of childhood sleep disorders. The clinician's ability to evaluate common disorders related to sleep in children relies on an understanding of normal patterns of breathing during sleep across the ages. This article reviews respiratory physiology during sleep throughout childhood.