Defining asthma in the preschool-aged child.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Defining asthma in the preschool-aged child.
Authors: Strunk RC (AUTHOR)
Source: Pediatrics. Feb2002 Part 2 of 2, Vol. 109 Issue 2, p357-361. 5p.
Abstract: A physician faces many challenges in making a definitive diagnosis of asthma in young children. Although there are clinical and historical features consistent with asthma, identical features are present in many other diseases. Furthermore, there is no specific test for asthma. Other diseases must always be ruled out before a definitive diagnosis of asthma is made. Determining whether cough or wheeze is the primary symptom is important because asthma is primarily a wheezing disease. Sweat chloride testing, chest radiography, and allergy skin testing should be performed in children with persistent wheezing to rule out other causes and help support a diagnosis of asthma. Allergy skin testing provides particularly useful information for making a diagnosis of asthma in the preschool-aged child. A chart review of patients presenting consecutively to the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine provides insight and information on an approach to make an asthma diagnosis for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Pediatrics is the property of American Academy of Pediatrics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Description
Abstract:A physician faces many challenges in making a definitive diagnosis of asthma in young children. Although there are clinical and historical features consistent with asthma, identical features are present in many other diseases. Furthermore, there is no specific test for asthma. Other diseases must always be ruled out before a definitive diagnosis of asthma is made. Determining whether cough or wheeze is the primary symptom is important because asthma is primarily a wheezing disease. Sweat chloride testing, chest radiography, and allergy skin testing should be performed in children with persistent wheezing to rule out other causes and help support a diagnosis of asthma. Allergy skin testing provides particularly useful information for making a diagnosis of asthma in the preschool-aged child. A chart review of patients presenting consecutively to the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine provides insight and information on an approach to make an asthma diagnosis for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:00314005
DOI:10.1542/peds.109.se1.357