ABSTRACT
Asthma is a heterogenous disease with symptoms of airway obstruction as a result of underlying airway inflammation. Wheezing is common in preschool children, but not all go on to develop school-age asthma. The prevalence of asthma varies widely around the world, ranging from 2.8 to 37.6% in children aged 6–7 years of age. Adults with asthma as children may have more airway hyper reactivity when challenged compared to those who only had infection-related wheezing, despite clinical remission. Asthma is caused by chronic inflammation and airway hyper responsiveness, leading to airflow limitation and increased effort of breathing. The development of asthma stems from an interplay between genetics and environment. Wheezing is a central feature of asthma. Symptoms of asthma may be mimicked by other diseases and differential diagnoses of childhood asthma should be considered when evaluating the patient. In a small percentage of difficult asthmatics, newer medications like Omalizumab, Mepolizumab, and Benzralizumab may be considered.
