Adulthood asthma after wheezing in infancy: a questionnaire study at 27 years of age.
BACKGROUND
Wheezing in early childhood is a heterogeneous condition, the longterm prognosis varying from total recovery to chronic asthma. Though short-term outcome has been actively studied, there is lack of data on long-term outcome until adulthood. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of asthma at 26-29 years of age after early-life wheezing.


METHODS
At the median age of 27.3 years (range 26.3-28.6), a questionnaire was sent to 78 study subjects hospitalized for wheezing at <24 months of age, and 59 (76%) answered. Asthma, allergy and weight status were compared with selected controls followed up from birth and with non-selected population controls recruited for this adulthood study.


RESULTS
Doctor-diagnosed asthma was present in 20% of the former bronchiolitis patients, compared with 5% in the two control groups (OR 2.1, 95% CI 0.3-17.9 vs selected controls; OR 5.2, 95% CI 1.7-15.8 vs nonselected controls). The respective figures for current self-reported asthma were 41% and 7-10% (OR 11.4, 95% CI 2.3-56.1 vs selected controls; OR 12.2, 95% CI 4.4-33.7 vs nonselected controls). Current allergic rhinitis and current smoking were significantly associated with asthma, but current overweight or obesity was not. In multivariate analyses, early-life wheezing was an independent risk factor of adulthood asthma.


CONCLUSIONS
An increased asthma risk in early-life wheezers continues, even after many symptom-free years at school age, at least until 27 years of age.
Department of Pediatrics, Kuopio University and Kuopio University Hospital, Finland.
M
M
Ruotsalainen
E
E
Piippo-Savolainen
M K
MK
Hyvärinen
M
M
Korppi
D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications; D007223:Infant; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D015995:Prevalence; D012135:Respiratory Sounds; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires