Pharmacological treatment of asthma

Asthma is considered a syndrome that groups different forms of disease, in which genetic and environmental factors interact and generate manifestations of the disease. Its clinical expression is very variable: from acute and sporadic symptoms to chronic, from seasonal or appearing in relation to exercise, to a serious and persistent disease. In Spain it affects one in 10 children with wide regional variations. In asthma treatment we find two clinical situations: 1) recurrent wheezing in infants and pre-schoolers is a frequent reason for consultation and delay in the onset of treatment in many cases can have a great impact on the health of the patient in the long run. Some children will be asthmatics who start symptoms early, but others will have wheezing that disappears in school age. Therefore, it is not always easy to diagnose and decide the treatment in these cases. 2) The choice of pharmacological treatment in the child over five years old should be based on the clinical evidence available and in this sense the proposals of the GINA and the guide British Thoracic Society, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) modified following recommendations of the child asthma CPG. The knowledge and use of these guidelines and consensus with current recommendations for the treatment of maintenance and the asthma crisis in childhood, are along with education based in self-control, basic points of a program of care for children and adolescents with asthma.