title: Consider the child: how early should we treat?
abstract: Epidemiologic and natural history studies of asthma have found that, for most people who develop asthma, clinical manifestations of the disease occur in the early childhood years. Both asthma persistence and severity during early childhood predict disease persistence into later childhood and adulthood, at which point asthma remission is uncommon. Current pathogenesis paradigms suggest that early intervention, before serious pathologic changes occur, may lead to optimal outcomes. Early intervention might optimize lung growth and immune development, and mitigate asthma persistence and severity. In this overview, categories for early intervention strategies for asthma will be based on the level of disruption of asthma pathogenesis. "Early interventions" target asthma shortly after its onset, "secondary preventions" aim to prevent lung targeting of disease processes in the vulnerable host, and "primary preventions" strive to promote healthful immune development and lung growth by keeping pro-asthmatic immune responses from occurring. This review will discuss recent clinical studies that exemplify early intervention and prevention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Medical & Research Center, and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003545:Cysteine / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000150:complications; D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000517:prevention & control; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007223:Infant; D015289:Leukotrienes; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists; D015289:Leukotrienes; C112381:cysteinyl-leukotriene; D003545:Cysteine