Machine learning modules can be trained with the use of electronic health record (EHR) data to differentiate between transient and persistent cases of early childhood asthma, according the results of an analysis published in PLoS One. Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using data derived from the Pediatric Big Data (PBD) resource at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) -- a pediatric tertiary academic medical center located in Pennsylvania. The researchers sought to develop machine learning modules that could be used to identify individuals who were diagnosed with asthma at aged 5 years or younger whose symptoms will continue to persist and who will thus continue to experience asthma-related visits. They trained 5 machine learning modules to distinguish between individuals without any subsequent asthma-related visits (transient asthma diagnosis) from those who did experience asthma-related visits from 5 to 10 years of age (persistent asthma diagnosis), based on clinical information available in these children up to 5 years of age. The PBD resource used in the current study included data obtained from the CHOP Care Network -- a primary care network of more than 30 sites -- and from CHOP Specialty Care and Surgical Centers.