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Published at www.nejm.org April 9, 2008 (10.1056/NEJMe0802072)

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Asthma is a complex and heterogeneous syndrome in which the airway mucosa is abnormal and inflamed. Although its causes are unknown, there are strong clues: it runs in families, and many, but by no means all, patients with asthma have signs and symptoms of IgE responses to common allergens. Asthma has an incomplete association with the phenomenon of nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness to a variety of stimuli. The mechanism of bronchial hyperresponsiveness is itself mysterious. A childhood in an environment rich in microbes protects against the development of asthma in many parts of the world.

In this issue of the Journal. . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London.

This article (10.1056/NEJMe0802072) was published at www.nejm.org on April 9, 2008. It will appear in the April 17 issue of the Journal.

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