Identification of factors causing dyspnea among children reported to the Emergency Department

Abstract

Aim: Dyspnea turns out to be one of the most common symptoms prompting parents to seek medical help for their children. Our aim is to determine the po¬tential factors causing difficulty in breathing among pediatric patients. It will help to speed up the diagnostic process and allow treatment to be implemented as quickly as possible, which will translate into a better patient prognosis. Methods: Analysis of medical history of pediatric patients to the Emergency Department of the Children’s Clinical Hospital of the University Clinical Center of the Medical University of Warsaw from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Specification of patients whose main symptom was dyspnea and identification of factors causing shortness of breath due to age. Results: Out of 36,591 pediatric patients, 980 were reported with dyspnea. Factors causing difficulty in breathing were classified into six groups: infection of lower respiratory tract (80,51%), exacerbation of chronic disease (8,98%), infection of upper respiratory tract (7,14%), foreign body (0,92%), injury (0%), others (6,02%) and unknown cause (3,78%). Most common age group was 2-5 years old (45,92%). 57.35% of children were hospitalized mainly aged 2-12 months (43,24%). Conclusions: The main cause of difficulty in breathing in each age group was infection of the lower respiratory tract. Despite symptomatic treatment, more than half of the patients required hospitalization. Some patients had more than one cause of dyspnea. Active searching for them and recognition is the key to managing breathing difficulties among children.