Natural history

The majority of children with asthma will have fewer symptoms as they grow older. Over half of those patients with infrequent episodes of asthma will cease to be symptomatic in adult life. The proportion of children with frequent episodes of asthma or chronic asthma who will become disease-free in adult life is substantially less.

Risk factors for persisting asthma symptoms into adulthood include:

• early age of onset and requiring frequent periods of hospital treatment
• patients with ongoing eczema
• patients with chronic lung abnormalities
• combination of smoking and asthma makes persistence of symptoms more likely