Childhood asthma: Cases admitted to Siriraj Hospital in 1992.

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study of 132 childhood asthmatic patients admitted to the department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University from January to December 1992 was carried out. There were 87 male patients and 45 females, the male to female ratio thus being 1.931. The mean age of patients was 61.8 months but 60 percent of the patients were under 5 years of age. The rate of admission was highest in the rainy season and most of the patients had asthmatic attacks within 24 hours before admission. The most common precipitating factor was upper respiratory tract infection. On admission, all of the patients had dyspnea and prolonged expiration with wheezing. Eighty eight point eight percent of them had mild asthmatic attacks (Wood’s asthma score 4-6), 1.6% had severe asthmatic attacks (score 7-8) and 9.6% had mild asthmatic (score 0-3) Eosinophilia was found in 8.1% of the cases. Almost all of the patients received oxygen therapy, intravenous fluid and nebulized salbutamol. Seventy four point two percent received intravenous aminophylline and 31.1% received corticosteroid. Two patients developed respiratory failure and were referred to the respiratory care unit. All of the patients recovered from their asthmatic attacks and were discharged the mean duration of admission being 4.9 days.