Introduction
The occurrence of bronchiolitis during the first months of life is a predictive factor of asthma development in children. However, its impact on the disease course is still unclear. We aimed to determine the characteristics of asthmatic children with a history of acute bronchiolitis.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective and comparative study including 195 asthmatic children followed in our department between January 2018 and September 2022. Our population was divided into 88 children with a history of acute bronchiolitis and 117 children with no history of early wheezing.
Results
Asthma diagnosis was made earlier in children with a history of acute bronchiolitis (7.5 years ±3.5 versus 8.3± 3.6, p=0.05). There was a male predominance in this group of patients with a sex ratio of 1.7 (p=0.02). No significant difference was found between the two groups regarding gastro-intestinal reflux disease (p=0.2), rhinitis (p=0.2) and poor socioeconomic conditions (p=0.3). Allergic asthma was more observed in children without a history of bronchiolitis (p=0.02). No significant difference was found between the two groups concerning the asthma control test (p=0.5). Asthma exacerbations were more frequent in children with early wheezing (p=0.05), without a higher risk of hospitalization (p=0.2). The mean peak expiratory flow rate and the mean FEV1 were comparable between the 2 groups (p=0.3).
Conclusion:
According to our study, asthmatic children with a history of acute bronchiolitis have an earlier age at symptoms onset with a less probability of allergic asthma and a higher risk of exacerbations. Early wheezing history didn?t impact pulmonary function in our population.