CLINICAL PROFILE AND ETIOLOGY OF WHEEZE IN CHILDREN BELOW 6 YEARS OF AGE

Divya Dhiman and Twinkle Sood*

ABSTRACT

Background - Wheezing, the production of a musical and continuous sound that originates from oscillations in narrowed airways, is heard mostly on expiration as a result of critical airway obstruction. Wheezing is a very common complaint in Paediatric OPD. So, this is conducted to study the clinical profile and aetiology of wheeze in children below 6 years of Age. Materials and Methods -It is a hospital based descriptive study carried out at Civil hospital Palampur for a period of 6 months from July 2022 to December 2022. Study population involves children less than 6 years of age who either attended Opd or admitted in paediatric ward with symptoms of wheezing. children less than 6 years of age who either attended Opd or admitted in paediatric ward with symptoms of wheezing from July 2022 to December 2022. After history taking, physical examination some blood investigation and radiological examination were done. These children were followed up for a period of 6 months All the data obtained were presented as percentage in MS excel sheet. Results - Out of 80 patients, there were 30(37.5%) patients of bronchial asthma, 10(12.5%) patient of bronchiolitis, 3(3.75%) patients of croup, 8 patient of Episodic Wheezer(10%) , 12(15%) patients of multi trigger wheezer (triggers like cold air, icecream, dust inhalation) , 17(21.23%) patients of WALRI. 52.5 % patient presented with cough, 30 % patient presented with fever, 36.3 % patient presented with noisy breathing, 15 % patient had multiple triggers like exposure to cold air, ice cream, dust inhalation), 18.7% patients had viral induced wheezing . Out of 80patients, 50 (62.5 %) patients were male and 30(37.5%) patients were female. Conclusion – We found that the common cause of wheezing in children <6 years is bronchial asthma followed by WALRI, followed by Multi trigger wheezer. In our study, we found that wheezing is more common in males as compared females. In this study, we found cough as the presenting symptom followed by fever followed by noisy breathing.

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