[Not Available].

Risk of persistent asthma following infant bronchiolitis. Repetition of wheezing episodes during early childhood is a risk factor of persistent asthma during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Host constitutional factors contribute both to the occurrence of the first wheezing episodes and of their persistence. These factors play a particularly important role in prenatal airway growth. Postnatal factors, inflammatory or environmental, interact with these constitutional factors to modulate the airway caliber and the level of bronchial hyperresponsiveness. A vicious circle is created between persistent symptoms and lung functional alterations that may predispose in the long term to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.