Asthma & your child

Diagnosing asthma

Diagnosing asthma in very young children can be difficult because:    

• At least one child in seven will have 'wheezing' at some point during their first five years. Many of these children will not go on to have asthma in later childhood, so your doctor may not want to use the term 'asthma' at this stage.
• It is not easy to measure how well a young child's lungs are working. A peak flow meter is used for older children, but is unsuitable and unreliable for younger children (usually those under the age of six).

The pattern of symptoms that develops over time shows whether a child has asthma. Your doctor may ask you to keep a record of your child's symptoms and when they happen. This will help the doctor get to the bottom of your child's breathing problems.

Children under two

If your child is under the age of two, it is even more difficult to tell if they have asthma. There are a number of different wheezing illnesses, including acute bronchiolitis, 'wheezy bronchitis', as well as asthma, which can make your baby wheezy.

Will my child grow out of asthma?

Some children with asthma lose their symptoms by the time they are adults and others may find that their symptoms become milder. However recent research has shown that the underlying condition does not go away and it is possible that symptoms may return in later life.

Teenagers

Out of 56 countries worldwide, the UK has the highest prevalence of severe wheeze in children aged 13–14 years.

Throughout childhood, asthma is generally more common in boys than in girls. This trend reverses during puberty when more girls develop asthma for the first time. By the age of 18 years, asthma is more common in girls than boys.