But they often can be subtle and easily mistaken for arespiratory infection.
Knowing how to differentiate infant asthma from common respiratory illnesses is one key to getting early diagnosis and treatment.
The progression can either happen slowly over the course of years or rapidly during the first months of life.
Ellen Lindner / Verywell
This is especially true whenwheezingdevelops before the age of 3.
The severity of asthma is also closely linked to a child’s history of eczema.
Asthma is a complex disease for which many factors contribute to both the onset and severity of symptoms.
In general, though, it is difficult to diagnosis asthma in children under age 5.
This is due to a lack of accurate diagnostic tools for this age group.
This is said to make wheezing alone in children under 3 a poor indicator of asthma development later on.
This can increase the risk ofchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)later in life.
It is unknown what causes asthma in children and adults.
The process involves an extensive interview to assess the child’s history of breathing problems.
However, it is better at excluding other causes of wheezing and shortness of breath than confirming asthma.
Even so, allergy skin testing is rarely performed in children under 6 months old.
This is partly because there’s been little research into the safety ofasthma drugsfor children this young.
Iftreatmentis needed, many of the same medications used for adults can be considered.
Many of these are similar to characteristic signs of asthmalike wheezing and coughingin older children.
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