For many years children with asthma have been advised to use inhaled corticosteroids, their preventer inhaler, every day. But new guidelines suggest that children might not need to do this. These new guidleines are based on results from studies in adults, and some teenagers, with asthma. Asthma in adults is different from asthma in childen and so we need to do the ASYMPTOMATIC study to provide evidence on whether taking a preventer inhaler only when a child, with mild asthma, has symptoms is as effective as taking it every day.

We will invite children and young people with mild asthma, to take part in ASYMPTOMATIC. This will involve using one of two different approaches to using a preventer inhaler, for 12 months.

1. Taking their preventer inhaler every day
2. Taking their preventer inhaler only when they have symptoms of asthma

We want to find out whether there is a difference between the two approaches in terms the chances of having an asthma attack, asthma symptoms, hospital admissions, and overall quality of life.