Every year, 759,000 children with asthma may be at risk of a major asthma attack while they have no health insurance. About 30 percent of those families earn more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, putting them above the threshold for the state children’s health insurance program in most states.

Children whose mothers are chronically stressed during their early years have a higher asthma rate than their peers, regardless of their income, gender or other known asthma risk factors.

Exposure to traffic pollution may increase respiratory problems and reduce lung volumes in children with asthma, according to researchers who studied the effects of road and traffic density on children’s lung function and respiratory symptoms in the border town of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

Because even mild asthma among young inner-city children appears to be more unpredictable than ever, four or more check-ups a year after diagnosis is a wise move as a hedge against dangerous flare-ups of wheezing and trips to the emergency room, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Farm children appear to have a lower risk of asthma than their urban counterparts or even those living in a non-agricultural rural environment, according to a University of Alberta study.

A lack of family support and problems in one’s neighborhood are associated with greater asthma symptoms in children and adolescents, according to researchers in Vancouver, Canada.

Children with allergic sensitizations in economically developed countries are much more likely to develop asthma than similarly sensitized children in poorer countries, according to a team of international researchers.

The next battle in the war on asthma symptom control could be a psychological one, a new study finds.

Children with asthma are missing out on the best drug treatment for their disease, because family doctors are ignoring prescribing guidelines, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Usually harmless external stimuli like animal hair, pollen and house dust cause a life-endangering narrowing of the bronchi in asthma patients. An international team of scientists headed by researchers from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU), Munich, and Oxford University, UK, have now been able to identify a gene that clearly increases the risk for asthma in childhood.

Children who carry variations in specific genes that metabolize vehicle emissions are more susceptible to developing asthma, particularly if they live near major roadways, a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) suggests.

A gene that is strongly associated with a risk of developing childhood onset asthma was identified by an international team of scientists, whose findings are published today in the journal Nature.