MILWAUKEE (AAAAI) -- Males are more likely to develop asthma as children, while females more commonly develop asthma after the age of 30, according to a study in the August Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). This information is important because the age of asthma onset has implications for asthma severity. The JACI is the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).

Asthma presents in two different forms: early-onset asthma, which occurs early in childhood, and late-onset asthma, which occurs during or after puberty. From 1998 to 2000, Roberto de Marco of the University of Verona and colleagues assessed incidences and remission of asthma from birth to the age of 44 using data from 18,873 subjects in Italy. The onset of asthma was defined as the age at the first attack, and remission was considered present when a subject was neither under treatment nor had experienced an asthma attack in the last 24 months.

In the study, the incidence of asthma shows a constant age-specific U-shaped pattern, implying 2 different forms of the disease:

• Early-onset asthma, mainly affecting boys (3.8/1000 persons per year in boys younger then 15 years of age).

• Late-onset asthma, mainly affecting women (3.1/1000 person per year in women 30 years of age or older).

Researchers concluded that results of this study confirm pervious findings concerning the difference between males and females in the age-related pattern of incidence in asthma. Early-onset asthma occurs in childhood, affects mainly boys and has a good prognosis while late-onset asthma occurs during or after puberty, affects mainly women, and has a poor prognosis.