title: Oral and inhaled corticoid treatment for wheezing in the first year of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence of corticoid utilization for the treatment of wheezing in infants less than 12 months old and to analyze factors associated with this practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study that administered the validated questionnaire from the International Study on the Prevalence of Wheezing in Infants to 1,261 infants aged 12 to 15 months in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Proportions and 95% confidence intervals were calculated and the chi-square test was used to detect associations between variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six hundred and fifty-six (52%) infants, 53% male and 48.2% white, exhibited wheezing during the first year of life. Mean age at first episode was 5.11±2.89 months. There was a high rate of morbidity, with many emergency visits (71%) and hospitalizations (27.8%). Also common were a family history of asthma and atopic disease (32.2 to 71%) and exposure to passive smoking (41.5%) and to mould (47.3%). The prevalence rates for corticoid use, whether via oral route (48.7%) or inhaled (51.3%), were elevated and were higher in the group that suffered three or more episodes. Children suffering greater morbidity were more likely to be prescribed a corticoid (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high frequency of corticoid use highlights the need to establish specific criteria for the treatment of wheezing in the first years of life in order to avoid extrapolation of asthma treatments to other conditions that are transitory and self-limiting and in which using corticoids could involve more risk than benefit.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Pediatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. cristinagalvim@gmail.com
authors.forename: Cristina Gonçalves
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Alvim
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Camargos
authors.forename: Maria Jussara
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fontes
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012135:Respiratory Sounds; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones