Paediatric Asthma

Paediatric asthma remains a health problem on a global scale, for the health systems of individual countries, for the families of asthmatic children and for the asthmatic children themselves. At present, we have no cure for asthma, and paediatric asthma most often represents a lifelong problem, although modern and optimal treatment do offer good disease control; most children with asthma are able to have a healthy life, and participate in physical activities on an equal level with their healthy peers, with a normal development into adolescence and adulthood. One major problem of paediatric asthma is the lifelong aspect. Recently, paediatric asthma has been reported as a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adult life, thus underlining the need for early diagnosis, optimal treatment and monitoring of paediatric asthma.