Acute asthma in children: treatment in emergency

– Background and Objective:Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases,leading to an increased rate of hospitalization.Material and Methods: The aim of this reportis to review the current concepts and treatmentof asthmatic children, focusing our attentionon the treatment of children in a Departmentof Pediatric Emergency.Discussion: Frequent respiratory infections,personal or familial allergy, disease severity andyoung age are important factors leading to hospitalization.However, regular clinical follow-upand use of inhaled corticosteroids, the IgE levelsand O2 saturation may reduce the probabilityof hospitalization during asthma attacks. The diagnosisof asthma in children is based on recognizinga characteristic pattern of episodic respiratorysymptoms and signs, in the absence ofan alternative explanation for them. The presenceof these factors increases the probabilitythat a child with respiratory symptoms will haveasthma. These factors include age at presentation;sex; severity and frequency of previouswheezing episodes; coexistence of atopic disease;family history of atopy; and abnormal lungfunction.Conclusion: Asthma is a chronic conditionthat often remains uncontrolled for reasons thatmay be related to the disease process itself, themanagement decisions of clinicians, the patient’sperceptions of disease control or self-managementbehaviors, the cost of medications, ora combination of all of these factors. To this end,patients with asthma should be educated not toaccept a certain level of symptoms or activitylimitations as an inevitable consequence ofasthma. Both the levels of current impairmentand the future risks (of asthma exacerbations or adverse medication effects) should be used toinform decisions about appropriate levels ofasthma therapy, and physicians should be awareof the new medication recommendations.