title: Effect of aging on the relationship between asthma severity and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in children with asthma.
abstract: An association between asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) has been demonstrated. It is possible that the relationship between asthma severity and BHR in children with asthma is different in infants and in adolescents. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the effect of aging on the relationship between the severity of asthma and BHR in children with asthma. We measured BHR in 386 subjects ranging from 2 to 20 years of age. The subjects consisted of 323 children with asthma (boys:girls = 193:130, mean age 9.7 years) and 63 age-matched controls (boys:girls = 25:38, mean age 8.2 years). BHR was measured using the methacholine inhalation challenge by measuring the transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcPO2) in children less than 6 years of age (Dmin-PO2) and by measuring the respiratory resistance (Rrs) in children 6 years of age and older (Dmin-Rrs). Throughout the whole age range, both the Dmin-PO2 and Dmin-Rrs in each asthma severity group were higher than those in the controls. In the asthmatics aged 2-5 years, the Dmin-PO2 levels in the mild asthma group were higher than those in the moderate and severe asthma groups (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively), and the Dmin-PO2 levels in the moderate asthma group were also higher than those in the severe asthma group. This tendency was also found in the age ranges of 6-9 years and 10-13 years. In the asthmatics aged 14-20 years, the Dmin-Rrs levels were not significantly different among the three groups. Taken together, these data show that aging has an effect on the relationship between the severity of asthma and BHR during childhood and that BHR may not be the sole determinant for the severity of asthma in adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Gunma University, Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
authors.forename: Junying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mochizuki
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Takahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tokuyama
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morikawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001785:Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016210:Methacholine Chloride; D009991:Oscillometry; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D016210:Methacholine Chloride