Pediatric asthma is a common disease among children nowadays, and since children are not capable of taking care of themselves, the care work is on the adults, so the responsibility of parents to prevent pediatric asthma is even more arduous, so they should be more careful when observing, and once they find the symptoms of pediatric asthma, they should be alert and seek medical treatment in time. However, according to a survey, nearly half of the children with asthma in practice only have a cough and no obvious asthma attacks, which can easily be misdiagnosed as “cold” or “bronchitis”. The following is an introduction to the symptoms of pediatric asthma, cough variant asthma is a very common type of pediatric asthma, first to introduce the symptoms of the onset of this asthma.
1. Symptoms of cough variant asthma
Airway hyperresponsiveness is the basis for the onset of bronchial asthma. Due to the different degrees of airway hyperresponsiveness, the symptoms appear clinically. A few patients only show symptoms of respiratory allergy, such as recurrent cough, regular bouts of cough and spasmodic cough after irritation. These patients may have no wheezing or even dry moist rales, but may have a history of allergic disease such as eczema, allergic rhinitis or urticaria. Their serum IgE may be elevated and anti-allergy or wheezing medications are effective. If an airway responsiveness assay (what used to be called a bronchial provocation test) is performed, it may be abnormal. This type of asthma with cough as the main manifestation, also called cough variant asthma, tends to start early, mostly before the age of 3 years, and can develop into typical asthma or remain as cough variant asthma if not treated specifically.
2.Symptoms during acute attack
During an acute attack, the child is irritable and restless, sitting and breathing, shrugging his shoulders and wheezing, with more pronounced expiratory difficulty, pale face, flapping nose, blue lips and nails, cold sweat all over the body, contraction of auxiliary respiratory muscles, complaining of chest tightness and shortness of breath, and even inability to speak with continuous words. After proper treatment, the symptoms can be slightly reduced if white sticky sputum can be expelled after coughing. Infants and toddlers mainly breathe ventrally, and because of their soft thorax, they often do not appear to be sitting down to breathe, but they often like to be held by their parents, with their heads bent over their shoulders, and they are restless and irritable. During inspiration, the “three concave signs” appear, i.e., the upper sternal fossa, the supraclavicular fossa, and the lower part of the costal arch show depression, while during exhalation, the upper and lower part of the sternum is seen to protrude due to the increase in intrathoracic pressure. In older children, jugular vein anger is seen. On auscultation, there may be rales or dry rales, sometimes the breath sounds may be masked by them, and if the airway obstruction is severe, the breath sounds may be significantly weakened. The heart rate is often accelerated, and the liver and spleen may be palpable under the ribs in the presence of emphysema, which may be complicated by heart failure in severe cases.
3.Interictal symptoms
During this period, patients often feel chest tightness and discomfort, and the respiratory sounds on lung auscultation are weakened without croup, but most children’s symptoms and signs disappear.
Repeated asthma attacks over a long period of time may lead to emphysema, when the anterior and posterior diameter of the chest deepens in a barrel-shaped chest. In severe cases, development is impaired and the child is thin and short, and these children often have allergic rhinitis and sinusitis. Most of the above changes will be recovered if effective treatment is obtained in childhood.
Variant asthma is a specific manifestation of asthma, mainly characterized by persistent or recurrent cough attacks for more than one month, often with nocturnal or early morning episodes of cough with little sputum, aggravated by exercise, without clinical manifestations of infection, or after a longer period of ineffective antibiotic treatment, with treatment with bronchodilators relieving the cough attacks, often with personal or family allergies.
Current studies suggest that cough variant asthma has the same pathogenesis as typical asthma, i.e., characterized by persistent chronic airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness, only differing in the severity of the disease and airway inflammation. Airway inflammation can be caused by viral infections, stimulation by allergens (pollen, dust mites, chemical dust, smoke, cold air) or exercise. Reflex enhancement of bronchial smooth muscles causes local airway constriction, which stimulates peripheral cough receptors to cause coughing, and because it does not affect the surrounding small airways, wheezing and dyspnea rarely occur.
The pathogenesis of allergic asthma is complex, in addition to subjective factors such as people’s own immune, mental, endocrine and health status. In addition to subjective factors such as people’s immune, mental, endocrine and health status, allergic, bacterial infections, occupation, climate change and drug allergy are also important factors that cause cough variant asthma. Asthma treatment is a long-term process and must be prevented from all aspects, away from the above-mentioned factors that may trigger asthma, to maximize the chance of asthma attacks and reduce the inconvenience and trouble that asthma brings to our life and work.
1, autoimmunity to be strengthened: poor immune function. Cough variant asthma is essentially asthma, and asthma is a metabolic disease, that is, due to abnormal immune function and cause metabolic reactions, so we should pay attention to improve and enhance the body’s immune function.
2, in order to strengthen the body exercise but induced asthma: cough aggravated after exercise, so there are such children with asthma to avoid strenuous exercise.
3.Diverse allergens can’t be prevented: it may be caused by allergens. Commonly, they are inhalation of certain plant pollen, house dust, mites, fungal spores, animal dander, fish and shrimp in food or contact with paint and dyes. It is important to carefully observe what factors are present before each coughing attack to find out the allergenic factors and avoid them to prevent re-exposure.
4. Weather change induces asthma: Weather change induces asthma. Climate change, winter and spring is the high incidence period, cold air stimulation as the main trigger, so make sure to keep warm and protected, especially in winter early morning to go out to wear warm and wear a mask.
5, emotional stimulation can also trigger asthma: emotional excitement, crying and fussing can also trigger a cough attack, so try to keep the child emotionally stable.
Cough variant asthma is a chronic disease, the condition can be triggered by a number of factors, recurrent attacks, if you want to effectively control the condition, not only rely on effective treatment, but also rely on daily life from the details of attention, from the small things to start to prevent. Here is how to diagnose pediatric cough variant asthma.
1. cough, which occurs especially at night without viral infection.
2. The child’s cold repeatedly “develops into the lungs” or lasts more than 10 days before recovery.
3. frequent wheezing episodes (more than 1 per month).
4. activity-induced cough or wheeze.
5. continued symptoms after 3 years of age.
6. wheezing not affected by seasonal changes.
7. symptoms appear or worsen with exposure to the following or in the following situations (fur-bearing animals, chemical aerosols, temperature changes, room dust mites, medications, exercise, pollen, respiratory infections, smoke, violent mood swings)
8. Symptoms are reduced after taking asthma treatment medication.
Asthma not only brings great pain to the child’s body, but in serious cases it can even affect the child’s normal learning and development, and over time it can also lead to respiratory failure, pulmonary heart disease and other complications. Therefore, as parents, we must pay more attention and keep an eye out, so as not to let the delay in seeking medical treatment bring too much harm to the child. And since children are not capable of taking care of themselves, the care is on the adults, so the responsibility of parents for preventing pediatric asthma is even more daunting.
Pediatric cough variant asthma is a common respiratory disease in children. Because of their delicate bronchial mucosa and low resistance to infection by external germs, inflammation can easily occur and cause coughing. The disease is an allergic chronic inflammatory disease of the airways with a complex etiology, which is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Allergies are closely related to the disease, and the disease is influenced by environmental factors. It can be triggered by exposure to a variety of irritants, such as cold air, fumes, foods that cause allergies, or inhalation of some feather dust or dust, or after a cold, and can be exacerbated by strenuous exercise. Meanwhile, children with past history of eczema, allergic rhinitis, etc., or family members with history of asthma or other allergic diseases should be alert to the possibility of cough variant asthma. And since children are not capable of taking care of themselves, the care is on the adults, so the responsibility of parents for preventing pediatric asthma is even more daunting. Here are some considerations for your child’s care.
1.Avoid foods that cause allergic symptoms, such as crabs and shrimps.
2.Do not let children fall asleep holding long fluffy toys.
3. When the seasons change and the temperature changes suddenly, you should add clothes for your child in time, while clothes should be dried and disinfected frequently.
4, do not keep pets and flowers at home, do not lay carpets; avoid contact with pollen, dust mites, oil fumes, paint, etc..
5.Keep ventilation indoors, especially in children’s bedrooms.
Asthma not only brings great pain to the child’s body, but in serious cases it can even affect the child’s normal learning and development, and over time it may also occur in respiratory failure, pulmonary heart disease and other complications. Therefore, as parents, we must pay more attention and pay more attention, so as not to let the delay in seeking medical treatment bring too much harm to the child.
The above is an introduction to the care of variant asthma. I hope that parents and friends can learn more about the disease of cough variant asthma in children and be prepared to protect their children.