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Factors Predicting Asthma in Children With Acute Bronchiolitis
Muhammad Waseem, Seleipiri Iboroma Akobo1, Faizan Shaikh
1St George's University, Grenada, West Indies.
Insights
Bronchiolitis in young children is associated with a higher risk of developing asthma. Key predictors include male sex, family history, atopy, allergies, and recurrent bronchiolitis episodes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
- Clinical Epidemiology
Background:
- Bronchiolitis is a common respiratory infection in infants and young children.
- Early-life respiratory infections are increasingly linked to the development of chronic respiratory diseases like asthma.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between acute bronchiolitis in children under two years old and the subsequent diagnosis of asthma.
- To identify specific risk factors contributing to asthma development following bronchiolitis.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of medical records for 1991 children diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis.
- Data collected included demographics, number of bronchiolitis episodes, and family history of asthma.
- Logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of asthma development within one year.
Main Results:
- Male sex, family history of asthma, atopy, and allergies were significant predictors.
- Children older than 5 months and those with more than two bronchiolitis episodes showed increased odds of asthma.
- Specific odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) were reported for each predictor.
Conclusions:
- Male sex, age over 5 months, recurrent bronchiolitis, and a history of atopy or allergies are associated with asthma development post-bronchiolitis.
- These findings highlight specific risk groups for closer monitoring.
- Further research in larger cohorts is warranted to confirm these associations.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to determine if there is an association between bronchiolitis and future development of asthma in children younger than 2 years.
Methods:
We reviewed the medical records of 1991 patients younger than 2 years presenting to the emergency department from January 2000 to December 2010 who received a clinical diagnosis of acute bronchiolitis. Their demographic information, the number of bronchiolitis episodes, and family history of asthma were recorded. The primary care clinic records of these children were reviewed for a period of 1 year following their presentation to the emergency department to determine if they had received a diagnosis of asthma. A stepwise logistic regression was performed to determine what factors were associated with future asthma development.
Results:
We reviewed the medical record of 1991 children with the diagnosis of bronchiolitis for subsequent development of asthma. The following variables were identified as predictors of subsequent asthma: male sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.55), family history of asthma (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.33-1.95), atopy (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.12-1.83), age older than 5 months (OR, 1.4 95% CI, 1.13-1.66), more than 2 episodes of bronchiolitis (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.79-3.07), and allergies (OR1.6; 95% CI, 1.14-2.14).
Conclusions:
In this limited sample, the predictor variables for asthma were male sex, age older than 5 months, more than 2 episodes of bronchiolitis, a history of atopy, and allergies.
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