National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health

Abstract

Background. The clinical course of bronchial asthma (BA) in children is often mild. However, in real-world clinical practice it may not always be possible to attain complete control of BA symptoms. In the majority of cases cessation of basic therapy with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) leads to a poorer BA control in spite of satisfactory general health status in patients. As a result of incomplete BA control, children demonstrate impaired activities of daily living, decreased daily physical activity and gradual reduction or withdrawal of sports participation and other activities. Under the conditions of restricted everyday activities children with mild BA and in the absence of continuous anti-inflammatory basic therapy may feel comfortable without any complaints. This may result in faulty evaluation of asthma as well controlled, which can cause disease progression.

Case report. All the above mentioned situations are exemplified by the case report of a youngster suffering from mild bronchial asthma. Also, this article clearly demonstrates the significance of use of asthma control test (ACT) in real-world clinical practice in order to work out a strategy for asthma management. Besides, the role of taking a detailed medical history for correct assessment of mild BA symptom control is demonstrated. In a given clinical example we managed to evaluate, in a short space of time, everyday life changes of a youngster with mild BA (an increase in daily activities and improved quality of life) following administration of basic therapy with ICS.

Conclusion. This case report demonstrates the significance of correct assessment of BA control regardless of severity of disease, in our case mild asthma, and shows its role in conducting proper basic therapy and achieving improvement of child’s quality of life.