Difficult and Severe Asthma in Children, Volume II

  • 11k

    Total downloads

  • 45k

    Total views and downloads

Download PDFDownload EPUB

Submit your idea

You will be redirected to our submission process.

Submit your manuscript summarySubmit your manuscript

About this Research Topic

Submission closed

Background

It is well known that the majority of asthmatic children can be well controlled with basic asthma treatments, mainly represented by inhaled corticosteroids. However, in their daily practice, general pediatricians and specialists need to face patients with problematic asthma which can be clinically challenging, leading to unnecessary over-treatment and resulting in significant utilization of health-care resources. Children suffering from persistent symptoms despite basic asthma treatments are considered as having "difficult to treat asthma". For these patients all differential diagnosis should be ruled out and possible co-morbidities need to be treated. Moreover, all modifiable factors including nonadherence to medication, persistent adverse environmental exposures and psychosocial factors need to be carefully considered. Those patients who remain significantly symptomatic despite these factors having been addressed are considered severe therapy resistant asthmatics (STRA). Although the previous classification seems to be simple, it is definitely more complicated in clinical practice. The correct approach to identify patients that might have true STRA should ideally start in a pediatric clinic, therefore, the initial correct management should be well known by general pediatricians too. However, patients affected by STRA require the time, skill and expertise of respiratory pediatric specialists and a multidisciplinary approach is preferred. Severe pediatric asthma is very different from severe asthma in adults and approaches cannot be extrapolated from adult experience. First of all, lung function tests can be difficult to perform in children and results need a correct interpretation. Many techniques to measure airways obstruction are specific for pediatric age and need to be known by pediatric pulmonologists . Moreover, even though our understanding is still very limited, correct measurements of airway inflammations contribute to identify various phenotypes which have been proven to be distinct from adult patients. Finally, it is widely known that pediatric severe asthma is a markedly heterogeneous disease: asthma hetereogenity is related to different mechanisms and factors – such as infections, allergies and immunological stimuli – playing in the context of a maturing immune system and during lung growth and development. It is important to understand whether those factors are independently associated to asthma or if they contribute synergistically to the development of the disease and to what direction. According to treatment, Omalizumab is currently the only add-on therapy that is licensed for use in children with severe asthma. However, serum IgE levels outside range limitations and lack of clinical efficacy limit its use in more than half of patients. Recently new potential targets have been described for novel therapies but still very little is known.

The aim of this Topic is to provide an update on difficult and severe pediatric asthma. We will focus the readers’ attention on some topics that are essential to understand severe asthma and improve the correct management of patients from diagnosis to treatment. Articles will cover the major topics: the correct diagnostic process, phenotypes and endotypes classification, measurements of airways obstruction and inflammation, major factors involved in pathophysiology and available or new treatment possibilities.

This Research Topic has been sponsored with 3 unrestricted grants from different companies and is a continuation of the Difficult and Severe Asthma in Children article collection.

Keywords: Severe asthma, Difficult asthma, Asthma Phenotypes, Asthma Inflammation, Allergy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic editors

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

    In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

     

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

     

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

     

Impact

  • 45kTopic views
  • 33kArticle views
  • 11kArticle downloads
View impact