Aim

We evaluated the prevalence of asthma at age 16-20 years in adolescents hospitalized for bronchiolitis in early infancy compared to controls without such history. Another aim was to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ).

Methods

We have prospectively followed 166 children hospitalized for bronchiolitis at age <6 months in 2001-2004 in Tampere University Hospital, Finland. At the mean age of 18.1 years, 72 cases and 29 controls without bronchiolitis history from the local population register attended a clinical visit comprising structured questionnaires on asthma diagnoses, symptoms and medications and fulfilling the SGRQ. Four cases and 13 controls only returned the questionnaires. Total SGRQ scores (0-100) consist of symptom, activity and impact scores. Higher scores refer to lower HRQoL. Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U test were used in statistical analyses.

Results

Asthma was present in 16 (21.1%) in the post-bronchiolitis cohort and 4 (9.8%) controls (p=0.210). Eight cases (10.5%) and 4 (9.8%) controls used inhaled corticosteroids. Interestingly, dyspnea was more common (35.5%) among cases than controls (19.5%, p=0.036). Asthma-presumptive symptoms like prolonged or night cough did not differ between the groups. In the SGRQ, total scores (median 4.26) were higher in the bronchiolitis cohort than in controls (1.67, p<0.001), the difference coming from symptom and activity scores.

Conclusion

This prospective long-term post-bronchiolitis follow-up showed that reporting of dyspnea and reduced quality of life in adolescence were more common in former bronchiolitis patients than in controls.