ABSTRACT
The medical approach of chronic cough suffers from the lack of a standardised definition. The most frequently encountered criterion is a recurrent cough observed during several consecutive months, each episode lasting at least 1 week. The link between recurrent cough and asthma is still discussed. Cough-related asthma diagnosis is facilitated when wheezing is clearly confirmed, or may be reminded by a nonproductive middle night cough, or an exercise-triggered cough, or the presence of personal or familial atopy. Conversely, an early morning and productive cough associated with tobacco exposure do not suggest asthma.
Subject(s)
Asthma/complications , Cough/etiology , Asthma/diagnosis , Child , Child, Preschool , Cough/pathology , Diagnosis, Differential , Exercise , Humans , Hypersensitivity/complications , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Recurrence , Tobacco Smoke Pollution/adverse effectsABSTRACT
The medical part of the activity in the emergency units increased and has been ascribed to the raised number of infants or children admitted for acute dyspnea. This review is based on the published reports and the experience from the paediatric emergency unit from the Rouen area with 450,000 inhabitants, in France. We put forward the known epidemiological data and discussed the available means for the practitioner, which could help him in the decision to hospitalize. This review suggests that algorithms of treatment and severity evaluations must be set up in paediatric emergency units in order to validate them and specify the children who requires hospitalisation.
Subject(s)
Respiration Disorders/diagnosis , Respiration Disorders/epidemiology , Age Factors , Algorithms , Asthma/complications , Child, Preschool , Dyspnea/diagnosis , Dyspnea/epidemiology , Dyspnea/etiology , Emergencies , Female , France/epidemiology , Hospitalization , Humans , Infant , Laryngitis/complications , Male , Predictive Value of Tests , Respiration Disorders/etiology , Severity of Illness Index , Sex FactorsSubject(s)
Asthma/diagnosis , Asthma/physiopathology , Oxygen/blood , Peak Expiratory Flow Rate , Child , Child, Preschool , Emergencies , Female , Humans , Male , Oximetry , Partial PressureABSTRACT
Viruses, particularly syncitial respiratory virus, are the main aetiology of community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections in infants, while bacterial agents are more frequently responsible in children older than 3 years. Antimicrobial therapy must take into account the development of reduced susceptibility of penicillin to strains of Streptoccocus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae with beta-lactamase, and high frequency of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae infections. Although the mortality rate has remained low in France, the morbidity appeared to increase in recent years.
