A major new study two Boston institutions — Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School — and St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine suggests children with persistent asthma may develop chronic lung disease and require lifelong treatment.
The authors of the study assessed lung function and development in 684 children with asthma for the span of roughly two decades. Based on the observations, approximately 75 percent of the participants experienced abnormal lung growth before early adulthood and were more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than kids who didn't have asthma.
"It is astonishing. For people barely into adulthood to already have COPD is terrible," said Robert C. Strunk, MD, the Donald B. Strominger Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. "As the disease evolves, they are likely to have health problems that will make it difficult to participate in normal day-to-day responsibilities such as holding a job."
According to Dr. Strunk, teenagers and young adults should maintain asthma treatment even if the disease plateaus for several years to prevent eventual lung function decline.
Note: Dr. Strunk was interviewed about the results of the asthma study earlier this year. He died of cardiac arrest April 28.
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