“How long does childhood asthma last?”
My son is 5 years old and has asthma. The doctor says in most cases with age, asthma gets better. How long does it usually last?
7 Answers
Lifelong
Asthma can be life-long. But in some cases, it gets a lot better by school age when it is triggered by respiratory illness. By then, most children have immunity to a lot of respiratory viruses and do not get sick as often. If it is allergic asthma, it may persist and have hay fever symptoms also. Do not stop your asthma meds until your doctor says to.
Boys seem to get better after teens, but may need to be on proper medications to prevent pneumonia and difficulty in getting exercise.
Asthma is strongly hereditary, and if there are many close members of the family have severe asthma, he should be aggressively treated for his symptoms. New studies show that eczema in the first month of life may trigger asthma and I recommend using very mild soap and daily Vaseline after each bath for the first 6 months. Studies have shown that treatment may prevent asthma development in your baby.
A long time, it’s less common in adults because the lungs, bronchioles as well as the alveoli are larger so secretions are able to be excreted & mucus plugs cannot block the terminal bronchial tubes.
Asthma after age 14 improves. Asthma can last longer. Young adults have much fewer attacks.
Asthma does not have a set duration; it varies. Some people get over it completely while in others it remains the same or gets worse.
