MEETING ABSTRACT Open Access Risk factors for asthma

Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease of childhood, and even if there have been many advances in the understanding pathogenesis of the disease, many aspects remain to be clarified. In the pathogenesis of asthma are involved both “protec-tive ” and “predisposing ” factors as a result of the complex interactions that occur between genetic predisposition and environmental exposure. From the genetic point of view, the identified genes responsible are more than 100, and many polymorph-isms have been shown to be associated to the onset of asthma, although none of these, alone or in combina-tion, is able to predict the occurrence of disease. The environmental factors most involved in the onset of asthma in children are represented by allergens