This book provides readers with a comprehensive review of severe asthma in children and adolescents, covering epidemiology, genetics, risk factors, co-morbidities, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment. Written by leaders in the field, chapter discussions draw on the mechanisms driving the disease, genetics, multidisciplinary approaches, immunomodulators, and other important aspects in the management of the disease. Severe Asthma in Children and Adolescents: Mechanisms and Management is designed to be a practical guide, opening with an introduction on the epidemiology of severe childhood asthma, as well as a discussion of special considerations of the disease unique to the preschool-aged patient. The distinctions between the diagnosis and management of asthma in young children of various ages, and specific approaches for the adolescent with severe asthma, including the transition into adult care are then addressed. Finally, the book closes with a discussion on the current state and future avenues for severe asthma research. Severe Asthma in Children and Adolescents is an indispensable reference for the healthcare professional, for basic and translational researchers, as well as for students, residents and fellows.

Severe asthma is a form of asthma that responds poorly to currently available medication, and its patients represent those with greatest unmet needs. In the last 10 years, substantial progress has been made in terms of understanding some of the mechanisms that drive severe asthma; there have also been concomitant advances in the recognition of specific molecular phenotypes. This ERS Monograph covers all aspects of severe asthma – epidemiology, diagnosis, mechanisms, treatment and management – but has a particular focus on recent understanding of mechanistic heterogeneity based on an analytic approach using various ‘omics platforms applied to clinically well-defined asthma cohorts. How these advances have led to improved management targets is also emphasised. This book brings together the clinical and scientific expertise of those from around the world who are collaborating to solve the problem of severe asthma.

This reference collects the latest studies on the development, diagnosis, and treatment of childhood asthma and offers current perspectives on new technologies that will shape the management of pediatric asthma in the forthcoming decade-illustrating how advances in pulmonary function measurement, inflammatory markers, imaging, and pharmacogenetics

Asthma is a disease of many faces and is frequently seen in children. This Monograph covers all aspects of paediatric asthma, across all ages, from birth through to the start of adulthood. It considers diagnostic problems in relation to the many phenotypes of asthma, covers the treatment of both mild-to-moderate and severe asthma, and discusses asthma exacerbations as well as exercise-induced asthma. The issue also provides an update on the pathophysiology of asthma, the role of bacterial and viral infections, and the impact of environmental factors, allergy, genetics and epigenetics. Finally,

The Pocket Book is for use by doctors nurses and other health workers who are responsible for the care of young children at the first level referral hospitals. This second edition is based on evidence from several WHO updated and published clinical guidelines. It is for use in both inpatient and outpatient care in small hospitals with basic laboratory facilities and essential medicines. In some settings these guidelines can be used in any facilities where sick children are admitted for inpatient care. The Pocket Book is one of a series of documents and tools that support the Integrated Managem.

Globally, severe asthma is defined by the WHO as either (A) untreated severe asthma; (B) difficult-to-treat severe asthma; and (C) treatment-resistant severe asthma. Untreated severe asthma is a political problem: the children do not have access to the basic tools for asthma management, and when this is corrected, asthma outcomes are transformed. The problem in difficult-to-treat severe asthma is not the airway disease, but co-morbidities and behavioral factors. This is the group in which there are most asthma deaths, underscoring that severe asthma cannot be solely defined by levels of prescribed therapy. Treatment-resistant severe asthma is rare and challenging, and the problem is the airway pathology. These children require new and innovative therapies.