Asthma is a heterogeneous disease, usually characterized by chronic airway inflammation which is defined by the history of respiratory symptoms such as wheeze, shortness of breath, chest tightness and cough that vary over time and in intensity, together with variable expiratory airflow limitation (GINA, 2021)
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide affecting an estimated 300 million. Prevalence is increasing in many countries, especially in children. Asthma is a major cause of school and work absence (Manning et al., 2005). The Asthma Society of Ireland estimate that that 1 in 5 children experience asthma at some stage in their life. Poorly controlled asthma is expensive in terms of hospitalisations, visits to out of hour services, days missed from school and the negative impact on quality of life for children and their families. The Asthma Insights and Reality in Europe study revealed that a child with asthma will lose 10 days from school per year (Manning et al., 2005, Manning et al., 2007)
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