Background. The two most frequent types of microcytic anemia are beta thalassemia trait (β-TT) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). We retrospectively evaluated the reliability of various indices for differential diagnosis of microcytosis and β-TT in the same patient groups. Methods. A total of 290 carefully selected children aged 1.1–16 years were evaluated. We calculated 12 discrimination indices in all patients with hemoglobin (Hb) values of 8.7–11.4 g/dL. None of the subjects had a combined case of IDA and β-TT. All children with IDA received oral iron for 16 weeks, and HbA2 screening was performed after iron therapy. The patient groups were evaluated according to red blood cell (RBC) count; red blood distribution width index; the Mentzer, Shine and Lal, England and Fraser, Srivastava and Bevington, Green and King, Ricerca, Sirdah, and Ehsani indices; mean density of hemoglobin/liter of blood; and mean cell density of hemoglobin. Results. The Mentzer index was the most reliable index, as it had the highest sensitivity (98.7%), specificity (82.3%), and Youden's index (81%) for detecting β-TT; this was followed by the Ehsani index (94.8%, 73.5%, and 68.3%, resp.) and RBC count (94.8%, 70.5%, and 65.3%). Conclusion. The Mentzer index provided the highest reliabilities for differentiating β-TT from IDA.

BackgroundThis study aims to evaluate the children with chronic cough and to analyze their etiological factors according to the age groups.MethodFive hundred sixty-three children with chronic cough were included. The last diagnosis were established and were also emphasized according to the age groups.ResultsThe mean age was 5.4 ± 3.8 years (2-months–17-years) and 52 % of them were male. The most common final diagnosis from all the participants were: asthma (24.9 %), asthma-like symptoms (19 %), protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) (11.9 %), and upper airway cough syndrome (9.1 %). However, psychogenic cough was the second most common diagnosis in the subjects over 6 years of age.ConclusionAsthma and asthma-like symptoms were the most common diagnosis in children. Different age groups in children may have a different order of frequencies. Psychogenic cough should be thought of in the common causes especially in older children.

The trial was registered at Anzctr.org.au number, ACTRN12613000315718.

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Although breastfeeding has been previously reported to protect against childhood obesity, we were unable to find a significant association between obesity and either longer duration of breastfeeding or later introduction to solid foods in our sample.

Aim We aimed to assess the impact of COVID‐19 on asthma exacerbations and to compare the severity of symptoms of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection of asthmatic children with those of healthy children. Methods The clinical course of COVID‐19 was compared among 89 children with asthma and 84 healthy children with age‐ and gender‐matched. Demographic factors, severity of asthma, duration of asthma, presence of atopy, type of treatment, and compliance to treatment in asthmatic children on clinical course of infection and to determine the risk factors for severe course for asthma exacerbation during COVID‐19 were evaluated retrospectively. Demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms, duration of complaints, and hospitalization rates were statistically compared between the two groups. Results Both groups had similar rates of symptomatic disease, hospitalization, and duration of fever. Among children with asthma mean age was 10.3 years, 59.6% were male, and 84.3% had mild asthma. Dyspnea was more prevalent in asthmatic children ( p :0.012), but other clinical findings were not different from those of healthy controls. 12.4% ( n :11) of asthmatic children had asthma exacerbation, 2.2% ( n :2) of them were hospitalized; one (1.1%) of which was due to asthma exacerbation. Conclusion The course of COVID‐19 in patients with mild to moderate asthma, who were followed up regularly and who were compliant with their treatment, was similar to their healthy peers. Since there was no severe asthma case in our study, the results could not have been generalized to all asthmatic patients. Further comprehensive and multicenter studies are required in pediatric population.

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Long term inhaled budesonide therapy appears to be safe in PPD-positive asthmatic children.