Severe Pediatric Asthma Symptoms Associated With Substantial Global Burden

The current global burden of asthma symptoms in school-age children is substantial, according to a study that looked at trends over time published in The Lancet.

“These data suggest that, while the overall worldwide prevalence of asthma symptoms is relatively stable, about one in 20 school-aged children have severe asthma symptoms, and they need to gain better asthma control to lessen the associated avoidable asthma morbidity and mortality; little has changed over 27 years,” researchers wrote.

The study included 119,795 school-age children from 27 centers in 14 countries that participated in the Global Asthma Network Phase I study and the earlier International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase I (1993-1995), ISAAC Phase III (2001-2003), or both. Researchers divided participants into two age groups: children aged 6 and 7 (45,434) and adolescents aged 13 and 14 (74,361).

In both age groups, about one in 10 students reported wheeze in the preceding year, of whom nearly half had severe symptoms, according to the study.

When researchers looked at patterns of change between 1993 and 2020, they found a significant decrease in percentage point prevalence per decade in severe asthma symptoms (-.37) but an increase in ever having asthma (1.25) and night cough (4.25) in adolescents. Children also showed an increase in night cough (3.21).

In low-income countries, the prevalence of current wheeze decreased 1.37 in children and 1.67 in adolescents but in lower-middle-income countries increased 1.99 in children and 1.69 in adolescents. In upper-middle-income and high-income countries, prevalence of current wheeze was stable over time.

“Trends in prevalence and severity of asthma symptoms over the past 3 decades varied by age group, country income, region, and center,” researchers wrote. “The high worldwide burden of severe asthma symptoms would be mitigated by enabling access to effective therapies for asthma.”

Reference:
Asher MI, Rutter CE, Bissell K, et al. Worldwide trends in the burden of asthma symptoms in school-aged children: Global Asthma Network Phase I cross-sectional study. Lancet. 2021;398(10311):1569-1580. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01450-1