Abstract

Background: It is difficult to diagnose real asthma in children under 6 years of age because of different phenotypes of wheezing related disorders in this age group.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine atopic status of children under 6 years of age in diagnosing real asthma.

Methods: This study was performed in the outpatient clinic of Pediatric Allergy Department in Keçiören Education and Training Hospital. Children who had first wheezing episode before 2 years old and at least 3 episodes of wheezing were included in this study. A total of 236 children (150 boys, 63.6%) with a mean age of 39.7±20.1 months were included in the study. The children admitted with recurrent wheezing were classified as transient wheezing, atopic wheezing and nonatopic wheezing.

Results: Three different wheezing phenotypes were identified in this study: nonatopic viral wheezing (n:112, 47.5%), atopic wheezing (asthma) (n:94, 39.8%) and transient infantile wheezing (n:30, 12.7%). The ratio of atopic children was 73.4% (n:69) among asthmatic 94 children. The ratio of children whose IgE levels were >100 IU/ml and diagnosed asthma was 83% (n:39), among all of the children (p<0.001). However, there were 55 children (29.1%) whose Ig E levels were <100 IU/ml and diagnosed asthma (p<0.001).

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that ¾ of preschool asthmatic children had atopy and 83% of these children had IgE levels >100 IU/ml. Skin prick test and IgE should be helpful to identify real asthmatics who will respond to steroid treatment in this age group

Keywords: Wheezing, atopy, children, total IgE

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How to cite

1.
Razi CH, Harmancı K, Yılmaz G, Renda R, Akın O. ATOPY FREQUENCY IN CHILDREN WITH RECURRENT WHEEZING. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2009 Apr. 1 [cited 2025 May 24];3(4):10-5. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/79