Assessment of wheezing frequency and viral etiology on childhood and adolescent asthma risk

Abstract

Viral respiratory wheezing illnesses are common in early childhood, and many children who wheeze subsequently develop asthma. In the Childhood Origins of ASThma (COAST) cohort, we previously reported that the development of rhinovirus (RV) wheezing illnesses in infancy and early childhood is the most robust predictor of subsequent asthma development in high-risk children at age 6 years, regardless of aeroallergen sensitization or other risk factors.1 However, a study in a similar high-risk birth cohort recently reported that the number of lower-respiratory episodes in the first 3 years of life, as opposed to a specific viral or bacterial etiology, was associated with asthma risk, and suggested that the specific microbiologic trigger is not important for the risk for later asthma development.