ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: In this descriptive study we considered age, sex, and admission's month of children under 15 years-old admitted to the emergency room for acute asthma between January 94 to july 95. MATERIAL AND METHOD: There were 594 boys and 421 girls. Male to female mean ratio was 1.4:1. We found a greater and significative admission's number in boys than in girls (x2: p < 0.001). Odds ratio was greater in boys. 1.18 (CI 95%: 1.04-1.35) than in girls, 0.85 (CI 95%: 0.750.96). RESULTS: The acute asthma admissions monthly trend was in third place (median) and second place (mode) when compared with other children's admission diagnoses. Total monthly admissions amount did not show a significative differences when compared the first seven months of 1994 and 1995 (Mann-Whitney's U: p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The acute asthma admissions are currently predominant in boys over girls, and that bronchial asthma is one of the more frequent emergency admission's causes in children.
