A child with asthma is evaluated and shows symptoms three days a week. How should the asthma be classified?

The classification of asthma symptoms is based on the frequency and severity of the symptoms experienced by the child. For a child who exhibits symptoms three days a week, this aligns with the criteria for mild persistent asthma.

In mild persistent asthma, symptoms occur more than twice a week but not daily. These symptoms may also affect the child's activities but typically are not severe enough to disrupt sleep more than two times a month. Given the frequency of symptoms—three days within a week—this indicates that the asthma is more than intermittent, yet does not rise to the level of moderate or severe persistent asthma, which would have more frequent occurrences and potentially greater impact on daily activities.

The other classifications require a higher frequency of symptoms or more significant interference with the child's daily life. For example, moderate persistent asthma would involve symptoms occurring daily and might necessitate the use of rescue inhalers on a daily basis. Thus, based on the established guidelines for asthma classification, the appropriate categorization for symptoms occurring three times a week is indeed mild persistent.