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Bronchial asthma after early childhood wheezing: a follow‐up until 4.5–6 years of age
Author(s) -
Kuikka L,
Reijonen T,
Remes K,
Korppi M
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb13131.x
Subject(s) - medicine , asthma , bronchiolitis , allergy , pediatrics , house dust mite , atopic dermatitis , wheeze , respiratory sounds , atopy , immunology , allergen , respiratory system
Over a period of 12 months from 1981 to 1982, 83 patients aged less than 2 years were treated in hospital for acute bronchiolitis. The children were followed‐up prospectively; 68 (83%) completed the study until 4.5–6.0 years of age. At this age, 17 (25%) of the 68 children with bronchiolitis still suffered from wheezing attacks. These 17 asthmatics suffered from both atopic dermatitis (29 versus 6%) and allergic rhinitis (29 versus 8%) more frequently than non‐asthmatic children. In contrast, positive results in the skin prick tests were almost equally common (29 and 20%) in asthmatic and non‐asthmatic children. In these tests, allergies to birch pollen, timothy grass pollen and house dust mite were most common; asthma was particularly associated with house dust mite allergy. The presence of atopic dermatitis, elevated immunoglobulin E values and repeated wheezing episodes between I and 2 years of age were significant risk factors for later asthma. In conclusion, the risk for later asthma is increased after early childhood bronchiolitis; the frequency of asthma was 25% in the present study. Our results confirm that atopics are at a greater risk of developing asthma later in childhood than non‐atopics; the risk was significant from 1 year of age onwards.