Abstract
Asthma is the most frequent chronic disease of childhood. In spite of significant improvement of treatment options and diagnostic tools, asthma remains in many patients uncontrolled. The term of "severe asthma" seems to be rather a large umbrella for a heterogeneous group of diseases. This paper is presenting our experience in two respiratory disease clinics that evaluate asthmatic children. Current study was designed to test an algorithm for daily practice in a special group of patients: children with previously diagnosed asthma or recurrent-wheezing, evaluated by family physician or pediatrician as severe disease ("Asthma Decalogue in Children"). Out of 313 referrals (during a six months inclusion time) we had 202 children completing study per-protocol. 49 (22.69%) had severe disease, but only 8 had severe asthma (3.7% of total patients and 18.6% of severe patients). They were older, with less male predominance and with more frequent rhino-conjunctivitis and D vitamin deficiency than other asthmatic children with less severe disease. Asthma Decalogue in Children seems to be an efficient tool to differentiate severe asthma from the rest of children with reactive airway diseases.
Highlights
Background and aimAsthma is one of the most important chronic disease in children, due to high prevalence and increased direct and indirect costs
There were published few papers on asthmatic children from Romania, only one paper addressing the area of severe asthma in school-age children
We describe features of severe asthma in young and preschool children from Romania
Summary
From EAACI International Severe Asthma Forum (ISAF 2012) Gothenburg, Sweden. 11-13 October 2012. From EAACI International Severe Asthma Forum (ISAF 2012) Gothenburg, Sweden. Background and aim Asthma is one of the most important chronic disease in children, due to high prevalence and increased direct and indirect costs. A complex effort [GA2LEN, Me-DALL and ARIA groups] was organized to address the area of severe allergic diseases, including severe asthma. The concept of “problematic-severe-asthma” has risen and two major groups of asthmatic children were identified: difficult-totreat asthma and therapy resistant asthma. There were published few papers on asthmatic children from Romania, only one paper addressing the area of severe asthma in school-age children. We describe features of severe asthma in young and preschool children from Romania
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