Lowe Lesley, Custovic Adnan, Woodcock Ashley
North West Lung Centre, Wythenshawe Hospital, Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M23 9LT, UK.
Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2004 Mar;4(2):159-65. doi: 10.1007/s11882-004-0062-9.
The prevalence of asthma and wheezing illness in children has increased substantially over recent decades and places a large burden on health care resources. Despite increasing evidence that both genetic and environmental factors have significant effects on airway development and function in early life, our understanding of the natural history of the disease is limited. Several phenotypes of wheeze have been described and many risk factors identified for the development of asthma. A thorough knowledge of early life lung physiology will enable us to identify children at risk for developing persistent disease. The development of objective outcome measures that can be applied in early life will aid in distinguishing between children with transient early wheeze and those who will progress to persistent disease, enabling effective, targeted therapy.
近几十年来，儿童哮喘和喘息性疾病的患病率大幅上升，给医疗资源带来了巨大负担。尽管越来越多的证据表明，遗传和环境因素对生命早期气道的发育和功能都有重大影响，但我们对该疾病自然史的了解仍然有限。已经描述了几种喘息的表型，并确定了许多哮喘发展的危险因素。深入了解生命早期的肺生理学将使我们能够识别有发展为持续性疾病风险的儿童。开发可应用于生命早期的客观结局指标，将有助于区分短暂性早期喘息儿童和将发展为持续性疾病的儿童，从而实现有效的靶向治疗。
