Prognosis of Children Having Asthma

Follow-up letters were received from 336 asthmatic patients who had been examined at the Mayo Clinic 17 to 27 years previously. There was a ratio of two male patients to one female. The age of onset of asthma was less than 5 years in 65% of patients. Forty-eight per cent of patients reported that they had wheezing at the time of follow-up. There was essentially no difference between those who had an early onset of asthma and those who had a later onset. Of patients who had had associated eczema, 54% reported wheezing in the preceding year in contrast to 42% of those who had had no associated allergic disease. Of the group having had allergic rhinitis, 48% reported wheezing at the time of follow-up; this also was the average for the total group. When patients were divided into groups according to present age, a tendency was revealed for male patients to improve with age. This was not true of female patients.