TY - JOUR T1 - Paediatric respiratory disease: past, present and future JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 225 LP - 228 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00085510 VL - 36 IS - 2 AU - G. Hedlin AU - E. Eber AU - P. Aurora AU - K.C. Lødrup Carlsen AU - F. Ratjen AU - J.E. Dankert-Roelse AU - R.I. Ross-Russell AU - S. Turner AU - F. Midulla AU - E. Baraldi AU - A. Bush Y1 - 2010/08/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/36/2/225.abstract N2 - Paediatric respiratory disease has changed in the past 20 yrs; we could fill a whole issue of the journal paying tribute to our famous forebears. We are posing new challenges to our colleagues in the field of adult respiratory disease. They have to learn to deal with conditions that 20 yrs ago were rare in the adult chest clinic, such as cystic fibrosis (CF) and the long-term consequences of premature birth and congenital malformations of the respiratory tract. Furthermore, studies in childhood are challenging pathophysiological concepts throughout life. The many great prospective birth cohort studies have shed light on the different patterns of wheezing, their risk factors and their evolution through childhood. Who would have thought it was good to be born in a barn! It is becoming increasingly clear that even for “adult” diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), antenatal and early life events are at least as important as smoking in adulthood 1. CF has become a disease also of adults 2. Although many factors have contributed, the main reason has been the development of expert special CF centres, a model increasingly adopted by adult teams. This can serve as a model for other diseases; how a well-structured multidisciplinary approach to treatment can translate into benefits for patients. Perhaps numerically the most important achievement is in the field of public health. The benefit of the decrease in invasive bacterial infections, due to vaccination programmes for infants, is among the most important achievements of the past. Other areas of change include the survival of ever smaller preterm neonates. These children are reaching adult life with impaired lung function and abnormal computed tomography scans. What will happen to their ageing lungs? Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is becoming increasingly well understood, with new genetic entities, such as … ER -