Asthma - Prognosis

Most patients with asthma respond well when the best drug or combination of drugs is found. They are then able to lead relatively normal lives. More than half of all children diagnosed with asthma stop having attacks by the time they reach the age of twenty-one. Many others have less frequent and less severe attacks as they grow older.

A small minority of patients have progressively more trouble breathing as they grow older. These people run the risk of going into respiratory failure (loss of ability to breathe). They require immediate and intensive treatment.