Demographic and clinical profile of children under two years of age with recurrent wheezing.

Abstract

Sixty-seven children less than two years of age with recurrent wheezing were evaluated clinically and demographically by proper history and clinical examinations. The mean age of the study subjects at enrolment and at onset of wheezing was 10.8 + 5.24 months and 7.1 + 3.857 months, respectively. The male-female ratio was 9:2. The majority of these cases (82%) had onset of wheezing at less than 1 year of age. One-third of the cases were diagnosed as asthma and viral infection associated wheeze. Increasing age in the first 2 years of life was significantly associated with decreasing trend of cases with history suggestive of reflux. The children with wheeze due to causes other than gastroesophageal reflux were more likely to be not exclusively breast fed. The present study did not find any significant difference in the prevalence of various socioeconomic, environmental factors and clinical factors among the various types of the early wheezers.