BACKGROUND: The interesting feature of childhood asthma is the great reversibilityof symptoms. The main purpose of this study was to assess the effect of persistent and reversed asthma-likesymptoms on lung function growth in preadolescent children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The follow-up respiratoryhealth survey has been conducted in the sample of 1129 children aged 9 yrs over two years follow-up.The basic health end-points was the occurrence of asthma-like symptoms and the slower lung function growth(SLFG). RESULTS: Adjusted OR for SLFG(FVC) was significantly higher only in the children having the continuedsymptoms(OR = 3.40; 95% CI: 1.32-8.77). There was a consistent trend of adjusted ORs for SLFG(FEV1) withthe category of symptoms, where OR was 1.46 (95% CI: 1.02-2.10) in children with recent new symptoms;2.06; (95% CI: 0.93-4.58) in those with symptoms remitted, while 3.46; (95% CI: 1.43-8.40) in childrenwho had persistent symptoms. The corresponding ORs for SLFG(FEF25-75%) were 2.03; (95% CI: 0.97-4.28),2.63; (95% CI: 1.38-4.99), and 5.84; (95% CI: 2.53-13.50). CONCLUSIONS: The consistent association betweenreversibility of asthma-like symptoms and lung function gain in preadolescent children confirmed theclinical significance of the symptoms in question. The observed slower lung function gain in preadolescencemay have implications for the development of chronic lung disease later in adulthood.
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