ASTHMA IN CHILDREN

With the introduction of the protein skin tests in the past decade considerable progress has been made in the study and care of children suffering from bronchial asthma. A practical method of classification of asthma along etiologic lines is now possible and is of extreme value since it leads directly to rational therapy. As a result of modern therapy, the percentage of children definitely improved or relieved from asthma ranges widely, according to the reports in the literature, from 40 to as high as 90. Thus, between 10 and 60 per cent of the patients who have received accepted standard modern investigation and treatment continue to have asthma. Within this class of unimproved patients there exists, in our experience, a subgroup of children in whom the asthma remains severely chronic from the point of view of intensity, frequency and long duration of the attacks. In these cases little can be