How Asthma Develops in Children
Asthma is the most common long-lasting (chronic) disease of childhood. It usually develops before age 5.1 Many children who have allergies get asthma, but not all. And not every child with asthma has allergies.
In most cases of persistent asthma, the first symptoms (such as wheezing) start in the first years of life. One study notes that about 25 out of 100 children with persistent asthma began wheezing before 6 months of age and about 75 out of 100 began wheezing by 3 years of age.2
Early infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes a lower respiratory infection is a risk factor for wheezing.2 But other research shows that upper respiratory infections that do not progress to lower respiratory infections may protect a child from developing asthma.2
If your child has persistent asthma, he or she may have:
Asthma as your child grows
It is likely that your child will not develop asthma even if he or she wheezes as an infant.
It is also hard to predict whether your child's asthma will continue into the teen years or adulthood.
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