Does asthma tend to run in families? Is asthma a genetic disease?
There is evidence that the tendency to develop asthma symptoms runs in families. But finding the gene or genes remains challenging. And once found, what type or types of therapies would be developed? If you could alter your genetic stripes, so to speak, to cure asthma, would you? These are interesting questions and the subjects of many scientific discussions, but back to basics: Having asthma in your family tree is not a sure sign that you or your children or grandchildren will develop the condition. Born to one parent with asthma, a child has a 25 percent chance of developing the condition. If both parents have asthma, the child’s chances increase to 50 percent. But asthma symptoms can be caused by excessive exposure to airborne allergens and irritants or can follow an episode of bronchitis or pneumonia in people with no family history of the condition.
