Breathprinting in childhood asthma

The two major challenges facing researchers and clinicians in finding an objective test for asthma are: (i) there is no clear gold standard test, and (ii) there is no current method to accurately measure both the airway obstruction and the airway inflammatory components of asthma. Looking forward, we need to re-evaluate our understanding of existing tests to see how to bridge the gap between “test” and “treatment,” and explore new methodologies, especially for detecting airway inflammation. The development and validation of noninvasive biomarkers for asthma diagnosis and treatment is an expanding field of research. In this context, breathomics is considered particularly appealing in view of its potential ability to provide more targeted approaches to care. However, further studies are required to validate its role in the screening of respiratory diseases at the population level, as well as in monitoring disease progression and assessing the efficacy of pharmacological treatments.