소아 천식은 완치될 수 있는가: 찬성 입장

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by persistent airway inflammation and irreversible airway remodeling. Current treatment strategies primarily rely on symptom relievers and controllers, which do not fundamentally modify the underlying disease pathology, and thus asthma has long been regarded as being difficult to cure. However, long-term follow-up studies in various cohorts have reported sustained absence of symptoms, or clinical remission. In pediatric asthma, several birth cohort studies have demonstrated clinical remission rates approaching 50%, and even in disease cohorts applying more stringent diagnostic criteria, remission has been still observed in children. Higher remission rates have been reported in individuals with younger age at onset, male sex, nonatopic phenotypes without sensitization to inhalant allergens, preserved lung function, and lower bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Immunotherapy, which can modify the natural course of allergic diseases, has been shown to reduce bronchial hyper-responsiveness and increase remission rates in asthma. Recently, the development and widespread use of biologics have enabled remission to be considered as a therapeutic goal even in severe asthma, prompting efforts to standardize its definition. In the current era of diverse therapeutic options and improved clinical outcomes, establishing both more precise and practical evaluation and definition of asthma remission will be pivotal for achieving personalized and precision asthma management. (Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2026;14:55-59)