Prevalência de sibilância recorrente em lactentes

Abstract

Objective: To identify the prevalence of recurrent wheezing in infants in the city of Curitiba, PR, Brazil. Results: A total of 1,364 infants (45.4%) had episodes of wheezing during their first 12 months of life, with onset at 5.5±3.1 months (mean ± standard deviation), and 678 (22.6%) had had three or more episodes. In 84.6% of the wheezing children treatment was with β 2 -agonists, with inhaled corticosteroids in 18.5%, oral corticosteroids in 24.3% and leukotriene receptor antagonists were used with 5.4%. The wheezing children exhibited nocturnal symptoms, intense difficulty breathing and visits to emergency services in the proportions of 58.9, 46.2 and 57.6%, respectively; 12.7% were admitted to hospital for asthma and 10.9% had had a medical diagnosis of asthma.Nocturnal symptoms, visits to emergency, severity of symptoms, hospital admissions for asthma and medical diagnoses of asthma were all more common among those who had suffered three or more crises (p < 0.001). Conclusions:There is an elevated prevalence of wheezing among the infants of Curitiba, with early onset and elevated morbidity. It is possible that these infants represent a large contingent of asthmatics.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2007;83(4):357-362: Epidemiology, infants, wheezing, asthma, treatment.