translated from Spanish: Childhood asthma in Chile: a disease diagnosed in hospitalized children

sub a Chilean study recently published in the journal of the Spanish society NOLA’s pediatric asthma and Clinical Immunology, Allergology showed that 45 percent of children hospitalized for asthma in our country do not have established diagnosis of the disease. This in the context of a significant increase in hospitalizations for asthma in children between 5 and 15 years, from 3.8 to 7.8 per 10 thousand inhabitants in an observed period of 14 years.
The study took as shown to children five years of age and older who were hospitalized for a crisis or exacerbation of asthma between August 2015 and August 2016, in 14 hospitals across the country, eight in the Metropolitan Region and six in other regions from Antofag ASTA to Valdivia. Of the 396 children who were included in the study, 168 did not have an established diagnosis of asthma by what only 188 wore at least one treatment of maintenance at the time of hospitalization.
Regarding this, Ana Maria Herrera WINS, medical bronchopulmonary child clinic Santa Maria and coordinator of the Commission of asthma of the Chilean society of pediatric pulmonology, who led this study, said that it is observed “an important under-diagnosis of” “the disease in children hospitalized for asthma crisis, which would explain the why many of them were without treatment of maintenance”.
“To improve the diagnosis of asthma have to be attentive to the clinical manifestations that produces because they make us suspect it and then be confirmed with lab tests”, added.
On the other hand, the patients in the study that Yes had established diagnosis of asthma, found that a high percentage of them did not use permanent treatment of maintenance as indicated to them, with a poor breathing technique.
When should I suspect the bronchial asthma in children?
The specialist emphasized that “we should suspect the presence of bronchial asthma in every child in school age who have recurrent episodes of bronchial obstruction. Between these episodes, the child may be completely asymptomatic or can have symptoms like occasional night cough, cough or wheezing to chest exercise or cough with laughter or crying. Address this clinical scenario, we suspect the diagnosis, which will be confirmed with pulmonary function tests. Once the diagnosis is made, the patient should start a permanent treatment which aims to prevent asthma attacks, preserving a good lung function and improve the quality of life of these patients”.
Regarding seasonality, Dr. Herrera pointed out that there are two times of the year where you can see increases in hospitalizations for asthma: “first in March, probably due to the start of the school year and viral circulation increase when children are” “they meet, and then in October, probably in relation to the start of spring in our country and the movement of pollen, another important trigger for asthma”.
Bronchial asthma is a highly prevalent disease. The World Health Organization (who) indicates that nearly 300 million people suffer from asthma worldwide, being more common in the pediatric age chronic disease. It is estimated that the prevalence of asthma in Chile, in the Group of 6-7 years, is 17.9% and in the 13-14 age group is 15.5%. Asthma is identified mainly through four symptoms that are, dry cough, wheezing in the chest or wheezing, shortness of breath or Dyspnea and chest tightness feeling sensation.

Original source in Spanish