Life-Threatening Form of Asthma Also Seen in Kids
Acute asphyxial asthma (AAA), a serious type of the disease reported in adults, can also occur in children, new research suggests. Moreover, the sudden onset and rapid progression to near respiratory arrest that characterizes AAA in adults is also seen in children.
Acute asphyxial asthma (AAA), a serious type of the disease reported in adults, can also occur in children, new research suggests. Moreover, the sudden onset and rapid progression to near respiratory arrest that characterizes AAA in adults is also seen in children.Despite its severity, AAA has been shown to respond rapidly to treatment on a ventilator, a finding that was also seen in the current study.The study results, which appear in the medical journal Pediatrics, are based on an 11-year review of children with an asthma attack who were treated with mechanical ventilation at a regional medical center in western New York State.Of the 290 children admitted to the intensive care unit with an asthma attack, 33 required mechanical ventilation, lead author Dr. Frank A. Maffei, from Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, and colleagues note. Thirteen of these children progressed to respiratory failure en route to the hospital or minutes after arrival, whereas 20 progressed to failure later in their hospital stay.The children with rapid progression to respiratory failure averaged 29 hours on the ventilators, much shorter than the 88 hours seen in the group with slower progression. Consistent with this finding, the rapid progressors experienced greater improvements in their breathing ability.Of the 33 children who required mechanical ventilation, 23 had the breathing tube inserted in the ER and 10 had it inserted later in the intensive care unit. Compared with tube insertion in the unit, insertion in the ER was associated with a shorter duration of mechanical ventilation: 42 versus 118 hours.”As in adults, AAA in children may represent a…distinct form of asthma,” the authors conclude.(SOURCE: Reuters, Pediatrics, September 2004.)
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