The International Consensus (ICON) on Pediatric Asthma has been launched during the EAACI Congress 2012 in Geneva. The goal of this ICON is to highlight the key messages that are common to many of the existing guidelines, while critically reviewing and commenting on their differences, thus providing a concise reference. The Pediatric Asthma ICON provides advice for the best clinical practice in pediatric asthma management.
Hundreds of millions of people in the world suffer from allergies, and it is estimated that 300 million have asthma. In some countries, one in three children has asthma, and 80 percent of them also have other allergies. There are many guidelines and consensus documents about how to treat this disease but the dissemination and implementation of these are still major challenges.
"Despite available treatments, less than 50% of asthmatic children control their symptoms" according to Prof. Nikos Papadopoulos, EAACI Secretary General and Pediatric Asthma ICON Chair. "Pediatric asthma is a chronic disease and therefore, requires chronic treatment. With this Consensus we highlight that pediatric asthma can be controlled by establishing a partnership between patient and doctor and adhering to a well-designed personal management plan. Regular monitoring ascertains the effectiveness and fine-tunes treatment", he said.
Multiple atmospheric pollutants may be triggering asthma symptoms among children