[Asthma in infants and young children: definitions and epidemiology].
Asthma of infants and young children (under school age) is a syndrome and not a disease. While the definitions given in 1981 by Tabachnik an Levision and by Geubelle still hold good, recent epidemiological findings show that several situations exist. Less than 20% of asthmatic infants in fact have allergic asthma that will persist after the age of 10. Bronchiolitis due to respiratory syncytial virus leads to a common variety of asthma. But pre-existing abnormalities of the small airways which create favorable conditions for bronchiolitis may also lead us to overestimate the sequelae. Prospective follow-up of cohorts of newborns is thus very important, and all wheezy children should undergo careful examination to exclude "false asthma" and identify "true asthma".
Dutau
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Service d'allergologie et de pneumologie, hôpital des Enfants, 330, avenue de Grande-Bretagne, BP 3119, 31026 Toulouse, France. guy.dutau@wanadoo.fr
D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000150:complications; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013577:Syndrome; D009626:Terminology as Topic