Pre-school Wheeze: More Questions Than Answers

摘要

Wheeze and recurrent cough are common symptoms in early childhood, affecting approximately one-third of children during the first 3 years of life. However, this group comprises a "respiratory soup" of different disorders including children with impaired airway development, children with purely viral associated wheeze, and atopic children with probable asthma. Much epidemiological work has increased understanding of these phenotypes (below), but in practice, they can only be differentiated retrospectively, at 5 to 6 years of age at the earliest. The clinician faced with a wheezing child cannot be sure at the time into which category the child will ultimately fall.