Precision medicine for paediatric severe asthma: Current status and future direction

Abstract

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease, characterised by different phenotypes and endotypes. Precision medicine in asthma refers to the implementation of a targeted therapy for each individual child, based on the identification of treatable traits, including environmental, immunological and genetic factors. Severe asthma in children is associated with increased hospitalisation rates, a lower quality of life, increased healthcare costs and an increased mortality. In the era of new molecular biologics treatments, it is essential to improve deep phenotyping of children with severe asthma in order to deliver the most effective treatment to each individual child. In this review, we discuss the personalised approach to the assessment and management of severe asthma. We explore the indications and use of the currently licensed biologics, as well as the potential of other emerging treatments.