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Childhood bronchial asthma in a desert country
I L Strannegård1, O Strannegård
1Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kuwait.
Insights
Pediatric asthma emergency visits in Kuwait significantly increased over three years. Asthma attacks correlated with winter, lower temperatures, higher humidity, and upper respiratory infections, but not pollen or dust storms.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Environmental Health
- Respiratory Medicine
Background:
- Bronchial asthma is a significant cause of pediatric emergency room visits globally.
- Understanding environmental and seasonal triggers is crucial for managing pediatric asthma exacerbations.
- Kuwait experiences distinct seasonal variations in temperature, humidity, and air quality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze trends in pediatric asthma emergency visits over a three-year period in Kuwait.
- To investigate the correlation between asthma attacks and various environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, pollen, and dust storms.
- To examine the relationship between asthma exacerbations and upper respiratory infections in children.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 50,300 emergency room visits to a pediatric clinic over three years.
- Statistical correlation analysis between the frequency of asthmatic attacks and meteorological data (temperature, humidity).
- Assessment of the association with upper respiratory infections, atmospheric pollen counts, and dust storm occurrences.
Main Results:
- A significant increase in asthma attack rates was observed, rising from 8.8% to 14.9% of total visits over three years.
- Asthma attacks peaked in winter and were lowest in summer, showing an inverse correlation with temperature and a direct correlation with relative humidity.
- A strong correlation was found between asthma attacks and upper respiratory infections; no correlation was found with pollen or dust storms.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric asthma emergency visits showed an increasing trend in Kuwait over the study period.
- Environmental factors like low temperature, high humidity, and upper respiratory infections are significant triggers for pediatric asthma attacks in Kuwait.
- Atmospheric pollen and dust storms did not appear to be major contributors to asthma exacerbations in this pediatric population.
Abstract:
A 3 year-study of emergency room visits (total 50,300) to the paediatric clinic of the main teaching hospital in Kuwait revealed that the rates of bronchial asthmatic attacks increased significantly from 8.8% of all visits during the 1st year to 14.9% during the 3rd year. The seasonal distribution of asthmatic attacks showed maximum rates during the winter and minimum values in the summer, giving a very close inverse correlation to temperature and direct correlation to relative humidity. A similar, excellent correlation was seen between asthmatic attacks and upper respiratory infections. Occurrence of atmospheric pollen, which characteristically shows a bi-annual pattern i Kuwait, was not found to correlate with asthma attack rates. Neither was there any demonstrable effect of dust storms on the frequency of asthmatic attacks in the children. Independent of season, the boy to girl ratio among the asthma cases was remarkably constant, around 2:1.