title: Recurrent wheezing in infants: epidemiological changes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine epidemiological changes in recurrent wheezing among infants in Curitiba, Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study used the questionnaire Estudio Internacional de Sibilancias en Lactantes (EISL). Parents of infants aged 12 to 15 months completed the instrument from August 2005 to December 2006 (phase I) and from September 2009 to September 2010 (phase III).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents of 3,003 infants participated in phase I, and 22.6% of the infants had recurrent wheezing (≥ 3 episodes). After 5 years, 1,003 parents completed the same questionnaire during phase III, and 19.8% of the infants had recurrent wheezing (p = 0.1). There was a reduction in symptom severity (p = 0.001) and number of emergency department visits (p < 0.001), but not in number of hospitalizations (p = 0.12). Physician-diagnosed asthma was more frequent in phase III (p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were no changes in the prevalence of recurrent wheezing in infants, but there was an increase in physician-diagnosed asthma and a reduction in severity, which, however, did not affect the rate of hospitalizations.
authors.affiliation: Saúde da Criança e do Adolescente, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil. h.chong@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Herberto José
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chong Neto
authors.forename: Nelson Augusto
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rosário
authors.forename: Emanuel Antônio
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Grasselli
authors.forename: Flávia Carnieli e
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Lylia de Fátima Melniski
authors.initials: Lde F
authors.lastname: Bojarski
authors.forename: Cristine Secco
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rosário
authors.forename: Bernardo Augusto
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Rosário
authors.forename: Fernando Henrique
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Chong
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012135:Respiratory Sounds / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires