Preschool Bronchial Remodeling and Risk of Exacerbation

Bronchial remodeling is an abnormal tissue repair process of the bronchial wall components that characterizes severe asthma which can include epithelial abrasion, thickening of the reticular basement membrane (RBM), an increase in bronchial fibrosis, blood vessel count, mucosal gland mass and/or bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) mass. We identified using latent class analysis two classes of patients. Compared to the second class, the first class was characterized by an increase in RBM thickness, blood vessel count, BSM mass and a decrease in RBM-BSM distance, mucus gland mass and bronchial fibrosis. We then hypothesized that this first latent class identified children at risk of asthma exacerbations.