The comparison between children and adolescents with asthma provided by the real-world "ControL'Asma" study

Objective Because asthma is a disease that changes over time, the Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology launched a nationwide study on asthma control (the ControL'Asma study). The intent was to test the hypothesis that children with asthma could present a different pattern compared to adolescents. In the study, we compared children with adolescents in a real-world setting by analyzing the asthma control grade and other asthma-related parameters. Methods This cross-sectional real-world study included 471 asthmatic children (= age 12), mostly male (n = 326; 69.2%), who were consecutively enrolled at 10 tertiary pediatric allergy clinics. Asthma control level was evaluated according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines, the Childhood Asthma Control Test (cACT) questionnaire for children, and the Asthma Control Test (ACT) questionnaire for adolescents, history, rhinitis comorbidity, allergy, clinical examination, lung function, and perception of asthma symptoms assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS). Results There was no difference between the age groups in asthma control as determined by both GINA criteria and the cACT/ACT questionnaires. However, adolescents with asthma had significantly more frequent rhinitis comorbidity (p = 0.02; OR = 2.07) and allergy (p = 0.012; OR = 3.72) than children. Asthma severity, lung function, and symptom perception were not different between age groups. Conclusions The current study showed that asthma control is not associated with age in young people. Adolescents with asthma did experience rhinitis and allergy more frequently than children. These findings reflect the progressive nature of the allergic phenotype in young patients.