Cardiopulmonary assessment of children with bronchial asthma

ABSTRACT

The cardiac and pulmonary functions were studied on 70 asthmatic children of different severities. Their ages ranged from 6 to 15 years [34 males and 36 females], they were compared with 24 apparently healthy children matched in age and sex. A significant decrease in the different parameters of cardiac and pulmonary functions in moderate and severe asthmatics was found while only in mild asthmatics there was a decrease in the FEF25-75%. There was an increase in PAD and PEP/ET ratio in severe asthma while the RVEDD was increased in both moderate and severe asthmatics, the ET, AT, AT/ET ratio, E wave, E/A ration and the deceleration time were reduced in severe asthmatics. There were no changes in the A-wave and the interventricular septum. The size of the tricuspid regurge jet was found among all the studied children within the normal range in spite of the slight increase in the tricuspid regurge among severe asthmatic children, beside there was no pulmonary valve regurge signals