Chronic respiratory symptoms and diseases among indigenous children.

Children from Indigenous populations experience more frequent, severe, and recurrent lower respiratory infections as infants and toddlers. The consequences of these infections are chronic lung disorders manifested by recurrent wheezing and chronic productive cough. These symptoms are aggravated more frequently by active and passive tobacco smoke exposure among Indigenous groups. Therapies for these symptoms, although not specific to children of Indigenous origins, are described as is the evidence for their use.