Characteristics of asthma attack with long-term management for bronchial asthma.
BACKGROUND
There have been no reports on the evaluation of the usefulness of long-term asthma management based on the Japanese Pediatric Guideline for the Treatment and Management of Bronchial Asthma 2005 (JPGL 2005).


METHODS
The purpose of the present study was to retrospectively investigate the records of 350 patients admitted to Yamaguchi University Hospital who had asthma attacks from January 2006 to June 2008. There were 149 patients who were treated for more than 3 months in accordance with the guideline (long-term management group) and 201 who were not (non-long-term management group). The patients were divided into three age groups: 100 infants, 159 toddlers, and 91 schoolchildren.


RESULTS
The onset age of asthma in the long-term management group was earlier than that in the non-long-term management group in toddlers and schoolchildren. The white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein levels were higher in the non-long-term management group in schoolchildren, suggesting the complication of some infections. The severity of asthma in the long-term management group was greater than that in the non-long-term management group among all three age groups. There were no significant differences, however, in the severity of asthma attack at admission between the long-term and non-long-term management groups in the three age groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients who had severe asthma tended to be treated with long-term management, which suggests that long-term asthma management according to JPGL 2005 may reduce the severity of asthma attack at that admission, because the severity of asthma in patients undergoing long-term management correlates with the severity of asthma attack.
Kawahara
Noriko
N
Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi, Japan.
Hasegawa
Shunji
S
Hashimoto
Kunio
K
Matsubara
Tomoyo
T
Ichiyama
Takashi
T
Furukawa
Susumu
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents