Pulmonary function tests are not useless in childhood asthma

Control of asthma in children is still insufficient in France in 2013, partly because of suboptimal treatment. Normal pulmonary function tests are an important part of total control, which should be the objective in children. These pulmonary function tests are not done often enough, even though it has been demonstrated that the lack of pulmonary function tests leads to under-treatment of the disease. Pulmonary function tests are essential in the management of childhood asthma, but the criteria of normal spirometry must be higher in children than in adults to fit to reality of childhood asthma. It is notably advisable not to limit the evaluation to maximal forced expiratory volume in one second, but to include parameters of distal obstruction and to give great importance to reversibility induced by short acting bronchodilatators. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.