title: The Asthma Predictive Index: early diagnosis of asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recurrent wheezing is a common problem in young children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 40% of children wheeze in their first year of life. However, only 30% of preschoolers with recurrent wheezing still have asthma at the age of 6 years. Nevertheless, asthma, the most prevalent chronic disease in children, is difficult to diagnose in infants and preschoolers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We review the importance of determining at early age which infant/preschoolers will develop asthma later on life and discuss the utility of the Asthma Predictive Index.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. jacastro17@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castro-Rodriguez
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012135:Respiratory Sounds; D012720:Severity of Illness Index