€ Even severe symptoms should be controlled, and the child should be able to go about most normal activities, € he tells. € If your child has asthma and is suffering, he shouldn € t be, € Spahn says. They € re also anti-inflammatory medications.

They € re less likely to have to swallow steroid pills every day to calm airway inflammation, which means fewer side effects of long-term use, such as thinning bones or stunted growth. They help to control the inflammation of the airways that occurs in asthma.

Newer Asthma Medications Better and Safer Spahn credits several types of newer medications with the dramatic improvement. Children are now less likely to have to reach for rescue inhalers for quick relief of worsening symptoms. Leukotriene-modifier pills such as Singulair, Accolate, and Zyflo. Second-generation inhaled steroids such as Pulmicort, Flovent, and Asmanex. And their lungs generally function better, says researcher Chas Spahn, MD, a children € asthma specialist at National Jewish Health in Denver.

Thanks in large part to better medications, children with severe asthma are less likely to wheeze and suffer full-blown asthma attacks today than 10 years ago, researchers report.