Prognostic factors for frequent episodic asthma in children

Abstract

Asthma is a major health problem affecting millions of children worldwide. The prevalence of asthma
in children tends to increase annually in the world. Therefore, identification of the prognostic factors
for episodic asthma is important to perform early prevention of asthma attacks in children. The
study was performed to identify the prognostic factors for frequent episodic asthma in children. This
was a retrospective cohort study involving asthmatic children who attended the Emergency Unit or
Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta. The
inclusion criteria were asthmatic children aged over 7 years, suffering from asthma over 2 years and
getting agreement from their parents as expressed by signed an informed consent. The exclusion
criteria were children with other chronic obtructive pulmonary diseases beside asthma and children
with cardiovascular diseases. Subjects were grouped into two groups i.e. Case Group and Control
Group. The Case Group was children with frequent episodic asthma while the Control Group was
children with infrequent episodic asthma. Prognostic factors for episodic asthma were then gathered
by giving a questionnaire to their parents. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship
between prognostic factors and episodic asthma. A total of 94 subjects comprising 37 (36.4%)
subjects with frequent episodic asthma and 57 (63.6%) subjects with infrequent episodic asthma
were involved in the study. Furthermore, response to initial theraphy was significantly associated
with frequent episodic asthma (RR= 8.64; 95%CI= 0.47-2.50; p=0.001). Whereas, nutritional
status, patients age when asthma diagnosed, exclusive breastfeeding, maternal education, exposure
of secondhand smoke and welfare were not (p>0.05). In conclusion, the initial therapy is prognostic
factors for frequent episodic asthma in children.