The progressive nature of childhood asthma.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood. It has been repeatedly stated that childhood asthma is a self-limiting disorder, but this is a misleading and often inaccurate generalization. Prospective studies have demonstrated that many patients who had seemingly outgrown their disease experienced symptoms again as they grew older. In addition, recent evidence suggests that, despite the lack of clinical manifestation of asthma, there is a persistence of bronchial hyperreactivity for several years. A number of epidemiologic studies have identified factors that seem to be associated with the persistence of asthma into later childhood or adult life. Information about the effects of treatment of asthma on the natural history of the disease is vital. While treatment greatly reduces the morbidity from asthma, it is not known whether early recognition and aggressive treatment of the disease have any influence on the outcome of the disease later in life.