prognostic factors for frequent episodic asthma in children

Asthma is a major health problem affecting millions of children worldwide. The prevalence of asthma in children tends to increase annually in the world. Therefore, identification of the prognostic factors for episodic asthma is important to perform early prevention of asthma attacks in children. The study was performed to identify the prognostic factors for frequent episodic asthma in children. This was a retrospective cohort study involving asthmatic children who attended the Emergency Unit or Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta. The inclusion criteria were asthmatic children aged over 7 years, suffering from asthma over 2 years and getting agreement from their parents as expressed by signed an informed consent. The exclusion criteria were children with other chronic obtructive pulmonary diseases beside asthma and children with cardiovascular diseases. Subjects were grouped into two groups i.e. Case Group and Control Group. The Case Group was children with frequent episodic asthma while the Control Group was children with infrequent episodic asthma. Prognostic factors for episodic asthma were then gathered by giving a questionnaire to their parents. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between prognostic factors and episodic asthma. A total of 94 subjects comprising 37 (36.4%) subjects with frequent episodic asthma and 57 (63.6%) subjects with infrequent episodic asthma were involved in the study. Furthermore, response to initial theraphy was significantly associated with frequent episodic asthma (RR= 8.64; 95%CI= 0.47-2.50; p=0.001). Whereas, nutritional status, patients age when asthma diagnosed, exclusive breastfeeding, maternal education, exposure of secondhand smoke and welfare were not (p>0.05). In conclusion, the initial therapy is prognostic factors for frequent episodic asthma in children.