NEW YORK: Boys may be more likely than girls to have childhood asthma, but they are also more likely to grow out of it during adolescence, a new study shows.

Results of the study released on Friday help solve the mystery of age and sex differences in the natural history of childhood asthma, the lead researcher told Reuters Health.

“Persistence of airway responsiveness commonly referred to as twitchy airways is a major reason why asthma in girls may persist (or develop) past the onset of puberty,” Dr Kelan G. Tantisira, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, said.

It’s known that the incidence of asthma around early school age is higher in boys than girls, whereas the incidence in adolescence and adulthood is higher in females than males, the researcher explained.

In addition to symptoms, twitchy or over-reactive airways are one useful marker for the development of asthma. Upon exposure to certain asthma triggers like pollen, dog or cat dander, cold air or histamine, an asthmatic’s airways are much more likely to constrict than those of a person without asthma.

Tantisira’s team studied the natural history of airway responsiveness in 1,041 children with mild to moderate asthma who were between 5 and 12 years old at the outset. They conducted standard “methacholine challenge” tests for twitchy airways annually over a period of nearly nine years.

Results showed that up until the age of about 11, airway “hyper-reactivity” decreased in both boys and girls and the average twitchiness was about the same in both sexes.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Solidarity with Palestine
Updated 29 Nov, 2024

Solidarity with Palestine

The wretched of the earth see in the Palestinian struggle against Israel a mirror of themselves.
Little relief for public
29 Nov, 2024

Little relief for public

INFLATION, the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period of time, has receded...
Right to education
29 Nov, 2024

Right to education

IT is troubling to learn that over 16,500 students of the University of Karachi (KU) have defaulted on fee payments...
A hasty retreat
Updated 28 Nov, 2024

A hasty retreat

Govt should not extend its campaign of violence against PTI and its leaders, thinking it now has the upper hand. Enough is enough.
Lebanon truce
28 Nov, 2024

Lebanon truce

WILL it hold? That is the question many in the Middle East and beyond will be asking after a 60-day ceasefire ...
MDR anomaly removed
28 Nov, 2024

MDR anomaly removed

THE State Bank’s decision to remove its minimum deposit rate requirement for conventional banks on deposits from...