RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Childhood asthma and puberty.
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 231
OP 235
DO 10.1136/adc.60.3.231
VO 60
IS 3
A1 Balfour-Lynn, L
YR 1985
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/60/3/231.abstract
AB Thirty eight, chronic, perennial asthmatic children were prospectively examined every six months for a mean 8.9 years to clarify the relation between clinical asthma and puberty. Improvement in the disease occurred independent of puberty but the rate of improvement was appreciably greater during puberty. This led to speculation that improvement in childhood asthma could be associated with an immunological process capable of receiving a powerful stimulus from hormones active during puberty. In addition, children whose illness improved before any sign of puberty had developed could be confidently predicted to 'grow out' of their disease. Conversely, if no improvement was seen by the onset of puberty, a much more guarded prognosis was needed.