title: The prevalence of airway problems in children with Down's syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Airway disorders are common in children with Down's syndrome. We report the findings on airway endoscopy in a birth cohort of children from a well-defined geographical area, in order to estimate true population prevalence of airway problems in children with Down's syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case note review over a 20-year period between 1993 and 2013 for all children in Greater Glasgow born with Down's syndrome, identified through the hearing surveillance programme. All children undergoing airway endoscopy under general anaesthesia for investigation of potential airway symptoms (stridor, hoarseness, recurrent croup and difficulties with intubation/extubation) were studied in detail to identify the number with laryngeal, tracheal or bronchial pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 239 children (F:M=1.15:1) were reviewed. Of these, 39 (16.3%) underwent microlaryngoscopy-bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia for airway symptoms. The main presentations were stridor (9), extubation problems (12) and exacerbations of recurrent croup (7). Thirty-three were found to have at least one airway diagnosis (13.8%) including trachaeobronchomalacia (17), laryngeal cleft (2), laryngomalacia (2), tracheal compression (2), vocal cord paralysis (1), acquired tracheal stenosis (2) and symptomatic subglottic stenosis (14).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laryngo-tracheo-bronchial pathology is much more common in children with Down's syndrome than in the general population, particularly subglottic stenosis and tracheal problems.
authors.affiliation: Medical Student, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Royal Hospital for Children, GlasgowG51 4TF, Scotland.
authors.forename: May Maxime Corazon
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Yaneza
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Royal Hospital for Children, GlasgowG51 4TF, Scotland.
authors.forename: William Andrew
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Royal Hospital for Children, GlasgowG51 4TF, Scotland. Electronic address: hkubba@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Haytham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubba
mesh_terms: D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Airway; Down's; Otolaryngology; Pathology; Prevalence; Problems; syndrome