Infants and young children with asthma should pay attention to these

In general, asthma in infants and young children is accompanied by repeated coughing and respiratory tract infections in the early stages of the disease. If you listen carefully to the child's breathing when sleeping at night, you will hear wheezing. This symptom is commonly known as infant asthma. If not treated in time, it may lead to continued recurrence of the disease and may even cause unnecessary trouble and harm. We must pay attention to and prevent infant asthma in normal times.

The following should be noted when diagnosing asthma in infants and young children:

(1) Some infants and young children have recurrent or persistent coughing as the initial symptom, or wheezing during respiratory tract infection. They are often misdiagnosed as bronchitis or pneumonia (including acute respiratory tract infection). Therefore, irrational use of antibiotics or antitussive drugs is ineffective, while anti-asthma drugs are effective. Infants and young children with the above characteristics can be considered to have "infant asthma".

(2) If the child's "cold" recurs and spreads to the lower respiratory tract, persists for more than 10 days, and only improves after treatment with anti-asthma drugs, asthma should be considered. (3) Currently, wheezing in infants and young children is usually divided into two types:

① Those with atopic constitution (eczema), whose wheezing symptoms often persist throughout childhood and into adulthood;

② There is no atopic constitution or family history of atopy. The wheezing attacks are related to acute respiratory viral infections, and the wheezing symptoms usually disappear before school age. Regardless of the type of wheezing, airway hyperresponsiveness is present, and some patients may have atopic inflammation. There is no definitive way to predict which children will have persistent wheezing.

Since more than 80% of asthma begins before the age of 3, early intervention is necessary. Although some children may overuse anti-asthma drugs, the effective use of anti-allergic inflammatory drugs and bronchodilators can shorten or alleviate wheezing attacks better than the use of antibiotics, and is also in line with the principles of early diagnosis and prevention of childhood asthma.