What do parents of asthmatic children know about asthma?: An Indian perspective.

BACKGROUND: Despite the magnitude of the asthma problem, very little is known about the public perception about asthma. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice about the causation, treatment and prognosis of asthma amongst the parents of children with asthma. Subjects were parents of asthmatic children attending two exclusive paediatric hospitals at Chennai, India. A semi-structured pre-validated questionnaire, which included their general understanding on asthma, its triggers and management, was administered. RESULTS: One hundred parents of asthmatic children participated in this study. A diagnosis of asthma was accepted only by 39%, of which only three knew exactly what asthma means. Perception that asthma is contagious was observed by 26%, and 35% believed asthma to be a hereditary disease. Various dietary items were perceived as triggers. Most of the parents (62%) administered oral beta-agonist medication at home before proceeding to hospital, but majority were using them as cough medication. Only 13 were administering aerosol therapy at home. Nearly one-third of the parents opined that the disease might remit with advancing age. CONCLUSIONS: General awareness of asthma in the community is poor. Patient education programme should augment awareness, eliminate social stigma and misconcepts in the community regarding asthma. Knowledge about the prevailing perception in the community would be the first step in achieving this.

Predictors of spontaneous bleeding in Dengue.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the predictive factors for spontaneous bleeding manifestations in Dengue illness in infants and children. METHODS: 60 cases of Dengue viral infection with spontaneous skin and or mucosal bleed were compared with 72 cases without spontaneous bleed. The protean bleeding manifestations in dengue infection were recorded. Various clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed using univariate and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Prothombin time was abnormal only in cases with spontancous bleed. A combination of (a) biphasic pattern of fever, (b) hemoconcentration, (c) platelet count less than 50,000/mm3 and (d) elevated ALT had a sensitivity of 79.2%, specificity of 64.7% with a positive predictive value of 70% and a negative predictive value of 75% in predicting spontaneous bleeding in dengue.