Childhood asthma, also called pediatric asthma, is a common condition that causes airway inflammation and asthma symptoms in children. Childhood asthma can range from mild to severe. Some children only experience symptoms at night or during exercise, while others have persistent symptoms. Children often experience worse asthma symptoms when they have a cold or the flu.

Common symptoms of pediatric asthma are coughing, wheezing, chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, and tightness of the neck muscles. The child may also feel tired or have a lack of energy. With asthma, the child may have difficulty breathing. If a child has difficulty breathing, the parents should take the child to the emergency room.

Most children with asthma have symptoms by the time they are five years old. A child may have inflammation of the airways without having outward signs of asthma such as wheezing or coughing. This is often referred to as hidden asthma. Hidden asthma can make the asthma go undiagnosed for a significant amount of time which leaves the asthma untreated and the child at risk of an asthma attack.

There are two types of asthma medications, Long-acting medication and quick-relief medication. Long-acting medications are inhaled or oral medication taken daily to prevent asthma symptoms. Flovent, Singulair, and Azmacort are examples of long-acting asthma medications. Quick-relief medications also called rescue medications are used to treat asthma symptoms when they occur. Quick-relief medications come in asthma inhalers. Albuterol is a commonly used quick-relief medication.

For children who have trouble using inhalers, they may use a spacer. A spacer is a rigid, plastic tube placed on the end of the inhaler. The spacer acts like a chamber to hold the air-suspended medication which allows the child to inhale the medication more slowly than direct use of an inhaler allows.

By the age of eighteen, many children no longer have pediatric asthma. One study in 2008 showed that boys are more likely to outgrow asthma than girls. Fourteen percent of the girls with asthma who participated in the study no longer showed signs of asthma during a lung function test by the time they were eighteen. However, twenty-seven percent of boys who participated in the study were shown to have outgrown asthma.

The difference between the ability of boys and girls to outgrow asthma may be linked to the smaller size of a girl’s trachea compared to lung volume. It may also be the effects of hormonal changes during puberty or other factors. More research will need to be completed before the gender-related ability to outgrow asthma is understood.