[Can obstructive bronchitis be a risk factor of bronchial asthma in infants and small children?].
One of more frequent reasons for hospitalizations concerning infants and small children are obstructive bronchitis. Great prevalence of bronchial tree obturation during infancy and in small children is a result of anatomical and functional differences of airways and immunological differences that occur in infants and small children. The most frequent cause of bronchial tree obturation is infection induced by viruses, rarely by bacteria. Recurrences of bronchial tree obturation are observed in some patients. Obturation recurrences can be caused by number of diseases that appear during infancy and in small children, for example cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. Also the presence of foreign body in the airways, immotile cilia syndrome, immunological disturbances, innate anomalies of the respiratory system and the circulatory system and bronchial asthma can result in obturation recurrences. Various clinical criteria are established and new markers of allergic inflammation are searched in view of difficulties to diagnose bronchial asthma in the youngest children. There are no unequivocal rules to diagnose bronchial asthma in infants and small children despite these searches.
Gasiorowska
Joanna
J
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, Collegium Medicum w Bydgoszczy, Katedra i Klinika Pediatrii, Alergologii i Gastroenterologii. klped@cm.umk.pl
Czerwionka-Szaflarska
Mieczysława
M
D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D001980:Bronchi; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010188:Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012008:Recurrence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology