What’s known
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 8.6 percent of children across the nation, or 6.3 million kids, have asthma, a disease characterized by wheezing and coughing associated with airway obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and inflammation of the airway. However, children with asthma with low socioeconomic status who live in inner cities experience a disproportionately high burden of illness. While treatment guidelines provide uniformity in managing allergy and allergic inflammation, such approaches may be misdirected when kids have asthma symptoms but lack allergy or allergic inflammation. Knowledge of distinct disease phenotypes can help to improve care.
What’s new
The Asthma Phenotypes in the Inner City study enrolled school-aged kids living in nine U.S. inner cities, including Washington, DC. The research team collected data about their asthma at the beginning of the one-year study and every two months as the kids’ asthma was managed according to accepted guidelines. Phenotypic analysis for 616 of these kids found their asthma clustered into five distinct groups. Cluster “A” was characterized by lower allergy, lower inflammation, and minimal symptoms. Fifteen percent of the kids fit within “A.” Another 15 percent of kids’ asthma fit within Cluster “B.” They had highly symptomatic asthma despite high step-level treatment and relatively low allergy and inflammation. Cluster “C” was distinguished by minimal symptoms, intermediate allergy and inflammation, and mildly impaired pulmonary physiology. Some 24 percent of kids fit within this group. The remaining kids fit within Cluster “D” or “E” and experienced progressively higher asthma and rhinitis symptoms as well as allergy and inflammation.
Questions for future research
Q: How does exposure to allergens, viruses, and irritants like tobacco smoke—taken individually as well as in combination—influence asthma severity and symptoms for these at-risk youths?
Q: What approaches to treatment might result from these studies?
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