In the past thirty years, the rate of childhood asthma has risen dramatically. Now, a group of immunologists has said that experiencing severe asthma as a child may increase an individual’s risk of reduced lung function as a teen.

Among children with moderate to severe asthma, the noticeable presence of coughing, wheezing and sensitivity to airborne allergens is associated with a 1 percent decline in lung function every year, according to research published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

A pair of healthcare experts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute examined the lung health data of hundreds of children between the ages of 8 and 11. Three years later, they examined it again.

The group found that severe symptoms – or those not appreciably lessened by prescription inhalers – often led to worsening of chest tightening, difficulty breathing and inflamed airway passages.

They concluded that severe asthma may stunt lung health either by slowing pulmonary growth or by changing the makeup of lung tissue.

Asthma is often associated with food allergies and eczema, all of which entail an immune reaction to environmental allergens. One in five Americans has asthma, according to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.