Clinical Characteristics Influencing the Asthmatic Crisis Intensity in Pediatrics

Abstract

Objective: to determine the clinical characteristics that influence the asthmatic crisis intensity in pediatrics. Methods: analytical cross-sectional study. 148 patients who attended the Emergency Room for asthmatic crisis were studied. Severity was analyzed with the Wood Downes-Ferrés scale, and clinical and sociodemographic variables were measured as well. Results: the main symptoms were cough, wheezing and dyspnea. Seventy-one percent of the participants had no controller treatment and 78% presented an adequate nutritional status. A significant association was found between exposure to tobacco smoke and severity of asthmatic exacerbation. Patients exposed to tobacco smoke were ten times more at risk of presenting a moderate to severe crisis (or = 10.1, p<0.001). Conclusion: this study allowed us to identify a low frequency of controller treatment, high exposure to tobacco smoke was a risk factor for the presence of moderate to severe crisis in the studied population.