The Relationship Between Wheezing Patterns During Early Childhood and Six Year Asthma Diagnosis in a High Risk Birth Cohort

Methods: Asthma was diagnosed cross-sectionally at age 6 as follows: physician diagnosis, frequent albuterol or asthma-controller medication use, a step-up plan during illness, or prednisone use for an asthma exacerbation. Wheezing phenotypes in the first 6 years of life were categorized as follows: transient (at least one episode of wheezing in years 0-3 only); late onset (at least one episode of wheezing in years 3-6 only); persistent (at least one episode of wheezing in both of these time periods).