We have reinvestigated 92/101 children aged 10, who before the age of 2 years were admitted to a paediatric ward due to wheezing bronchitis. At the present time, 70% are symptom-free without medication, 20% have mild asthma, 8% moderate and 2% severe asthma. Persistent asthma correlated significantly to the presence of some other atopic disease in recent years, to early start of wheezing during infancy and to intense obstructive disease as a young child, while initial respiratory syncytial virus infection did not. A clear-cut relationship between smoking in the home in infancy and persistent asthma emerged (not visible at a preschool follow-up). The histamine challenge results correlated to the clinical picture. A normal histamine challenge was seen in 63%, mild hyperresponsiveness in 19%, moderate in 12% and pronounced hyperresponsiveness in 6%. The figures for persistent asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness are high compared with the prevalence of asthma in the overall population of schoolchildren.

Psychological and respiratory physiological effects of a physical exercise programme on boys with severe asthma. Acta Paediatr Scand 80: 1058, 1991. Ten boys 9-12 years of age with severe perennial asthma participated in a physical exercise programme lasting 8 months. Pulmonary function and psychological tests were performed before training, immediately after, and one year after the end of the exercise programme. Static lung volumes, flow-volume variables and histamine tolerance were used as indicators of pulmonary function. Ego structure, body image, social development and concentration capacity were used as indicators of personality development. Before the study, the group had high FRC (pt0.05) and RV (p

The aim of the study was to establish transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcPO(2)), carbon dioxide tension (tcPCO(2)), and oxygen saturation (tcSO(2)) values and to investigate the intra- and interindividual variation in these values in healthy children and adolescents. Forty-one healthy children/adolescents (21 girls; mean age, 12.1 years; SD, 3.5; range, 5.0-19.0 years) participated. Continuous recordings of tcPO(2), tcPCO(2), tcSO(2), and heart rate (HR) were made for 30 min on two occasions, with a mean interval of 10.3 days, with the child/adolescent in a sitting position. The respiratory rate (RR) was counted manually during the last 5 min of each recording. The mean values of tcPO(2), tcPCO(2), tcSO(2), HR, and RR during the last 5 min of the recordings were reported. At the first recording, the mean value for tcPO(2) was 10.8 kPa (SD 1.0), for tcPCO(2) 5.1 kPa (0.4), for tcSO(2) 97.4% (1.1), for HR 82.2 min(-1) (9.9), and for RR 19.0 min(-1) (2.8). The coefficient of variation for tcPO(2) was 9.3%, for tcPCO(2) 7.8%, for tcSO(2) 1.1%, for HR 12.0%, and for RR 14.7%. The mean intraindividual variation in tcPO(2) was 0.3 kPa (SD 1.0), tcPCO(2) 0.0 kPa (0.5), tcSO(2) 0.1% (1.3), HR 0.1 min(-1) (7.7), and RR 0.5 min(-1) (2.7). No significant differences were observed in tcPO(2), tcPCO(2), tcSO(2), HR, or RR between the two recordings. In conclusion, the reproducibility of tcPO(2), tcPCO(2), and tcSO(2) monitoring during 30 min in healthy children and adolescents was good. This indicates that transcutaneous blood gas monitoring may be used to document significant changes in blood gas tensions and oxygen saturation over time.

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The influence of the breathing pattern on transcutaneous blood gases was evaluated in 18 boys and 8 girls 7-18 years of age, with bronchial asthma, during bronchial provocation with histamine-HCl. Transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcPO2), carbon dioxide tension (tcPCO2) and the breathing pattern assessed by the transthoracic impedance technique were continuously monitored during the provocation. At reaction, when the fall in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was 20% or more, the tcPO2 fell by 15% or more below the baseline in 22/26 and by 20% or more in 14/26 children. In some children, a marked fall in the tcPO2 was already noted after the saline inhalation and the first histamine dose steps without simultaneous changes in the FEV1. This early fall in the tcPO2 correlated to changes in the breathing pattern and was interpreted as a sign of compensatory hypoventilation secondary to the hyperventilation observed during the inhalations. We conclude that transcutaneous oxygen tension can be used as an indicator of a bronchial reaction during bronchial provocation tests in children only if one takes account of the fact that the breathing pattern during the inhalation of the challenge compound per se has an effect on the oxygen tension.