ABSTRACT
A retrospective study on clinical and laboratory findings was conducted in 104 children with asthma visiting the Outpatient Clinic, Subdivision of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Child Health, Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Medical School, University of Indonesia, Jakarta. This study revealed that the proportion of asthma in males was greater than in females with the ratio 1.36:1. The age ranged from 8 months to 14 years with a mean age of 6.72 years. The majority of the children (70.2%) had the age of onset of asthma under 5 years, and the highest percentage was between 2-4 years (45.2%). The author thinks that this may be due to the upper respiratory tract infections, which are frequently found in this age group of children and may precipitate asthma in certain individuals. There was no significant correlation between the duration of breast feeding and the age of onset of asthma, without considering strict avoidance of formula or solid food. The majority of the children in this study (95.2%) had positive family history of atopy and 79.80% had family history of asthma. This supports the opinion that asthma is inherited. Thirty nine out of 104 children (37.5%) also suffered from other allergic manifestations and was mostly urticaria. It seems that patients with asthma tend to have other allergic diseases. The percentage of increased serum IgE level in pure asthma was 21.87% while increased eosinophil count 36.1%. The majority of the children in this study (92.8%) showed positive prick test. It seems that normal IgE serum level and normal eosinophil count did not rule out the presence of allergic asthma. The percentage of increased level of serum IgE and peripheral eosinophil count increased with the presence of ascariasis and other allergic manifestations. The majority of the patients tested (64 out of 60 patients) showed positive skin prick test against at least one allergen, the three leading percentages were against house dust (75%), animal epithelia (70.1%) and house dust mite (54.7%). It seems that the majority of our children with asthma were allergic and the most involved allergen was aeroallergen (inhalan).
