Asthma that manifests in early adulthood has its origins in early
childhood, according to an article released on September 19, 2008 in The
Lancet.
To investigate the origins of adult-onset asthma, Dr Debra Stern and
Professor Fernando D Martinez, Arizona Respiratory Center, Tucson,
Arizona, USA, and colleagues examined the Tucson Children’s Respiratory
Buy viagra without prescription Study, a cohort beginning in the early 1980s. Of the 1,246 babies
enrolled in the study, 849 completed follow-up for 22 years. Evaluation
was performed regularly via questionnaire, an allergy prick test for
various common allergens, lung capacity. Patients were classified based
on asthma status between the ages of 0 and 16 years, then further for
asthma status at age 22.
At 22 years of age, 181 cases of active asthma were reported. Of these,
27% were newly diagnosed, meaning that they were not diagnosed with
asthma by age 16 but had shown signs of the disease by age 22. This
group of patients was overwhelmingly female (71%). Men had twice the
chance of asthma remission by the age of 22.
Several factors were associated with chronic asthma, in which the
subject showed asthma symptoms before age 16 and in the follow-up
period to age 22. These included the onset of wheezing by age 6,
persistent wheezing in early life, sensitization to Alternaria
alernata (an indoor allergen that has been associated with
asthma), low airway function at age 6, and bronchial
hyper-responsiveness at age six. Newly diagnosed asthma at age 22 years
was associated with several factors. These included bronchial
hyper-responsiveness at age 6, low airway function at six, wheezing
onset at 6, and persisten wheezing.
In conclusion, the authors note the major associated risk factors for
asthma in early adulthood: "In over 70% of people with current asthma
and 63% of those with newly diagnosed asthma at age 22 years, episodes
of wheezing had happened in the first three years of life or were
reported by parents at age six years…Our findings support our
previous proposition that most forms of asthma have their origins in
early life, but we now extend that proposition to asthma diagnosed in
early adult life."
Dr Susanne Lau, Charit?© University Medicine, Berlin, Germany,
contributed an accompanying comment which implies the need for further
research regarding prevention methods. "These findings
identify a population at risk of chronic obstructive airway disease in
early adulthood, and they already showed a predisposition during
preschool years. Whether therapeutic approaches at early preschool age
can affect progression of the disease is yet to be established."
Wheezing and bronchial hyper-responsiveness in early childhood
as predictors of newly diagnosed asthma in early adulthood: a
longitudinal birth-cohort study
Debra A Stern, Wayne J Morgan, Marilyn Halonen, Anne L Wright, Fernando
D Martinez
Lancet 2008; 372: 1058-64
Click Here For Journal
Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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