Relationship of exercise-induced asthma to clinical asthma in childhood.

Thirty-three asthmatics were followed up for a mean of 8 1/2 years in prospective study in order to observe the clinical course of the disease. The severity of asthma was graded according to the treatment each required to keep him in reasonable health. Regular exercise tests were performed so that a comparison could be made between the degree of exercise-induced asthma and the severity of the disease. In this group of severe perennial childhood asthmatics profound exercise-induced asthma was found to exist throughout the entire clinical spectrum of the disease with no appreciable difference until the patient became symptom-free. Exercise-induced asthma then disappeared only to return if clinical asthma recurred. This study showed that exercise-induced asthma is a sensitive indicator of clinical asthma but has no prognostic significance in the symptom-free patient.