Though the overall incidence of asthma in childhood is different for boys and girls, children can outgrow their asthma symptoms. Watch pulmonologist Brian Gelbman, MD, discuss asthma in childhood and what could trigger a recurrence in adulthood.
So asthma has an interesting distribution in childhood. Before puberty, the incidence of asthma in boys is twice as common as girls. After puberty, that incidence switched where girls have it about as twice as common as boys. We think that has a lot to do with increase in the airways size as the child grows.
Most boys' symptoms of asthma will disappear by puberty, but women will have asthma from the arms of puberty for about the late 20s. Then by 20s most people outgrow the majority of their asthma symptoms. This can reoccur later in adulthood. For patients who had asthma as a child, it can recur later in life, usually this is in association with being exposed to a new trigger.
Triggers for asthma can be anything from an allergen to stress to other medical conditions such as acid reflex.
Brian Gelbman, MD is assistant attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is board certified in internal, pulmonary and critical care medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
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