Children with asthma tend to have the worst symptoms at the same times each year. Illustration based on 7 years of asthma hospitalization data from across Texas. Rosalind Eggo
AUSTIN, Texas - The most dangerous times of year for children with asthma are soon after their schools reopen after a break, and a new study finds that cold viruses are largely to blame. Health experts have observed that children with asthma tend to have the worst symptoms at the same times each year - when school starts in the fall and after extended breaks such as Spring Break. Researchers previously speculated that environmental factors such as air quality in schools might be to blame, but the new study confirms that the primary driver of seasonal waves of worsening asthma symptoms, which can lead to hospitalizations, is the prevalence of common colds. "This work can improve public health strategies to keep asthmatic children healthy. For example, at the riskiest times of year, doctors could encourage patient adherence to preventative medications, and schools could take measures to reduce cold transmission," says Lauren Meyers , professor of integrative biology and statistics and data sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and senior author of the paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Exacerbations, the medical term for worsening asthma symptoms, result in millions of missed work and school days and $50 billion in direct health care costs in the United States each year. Earlier studies into the cause of exacerbations involved swabbing individual patients to detect viruses, but Meyers, a mathematical biologist, and her team investigated population-wide patterns of how common colds circulate among adults and children throughout the year to learn about the role of the viruses.
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