The Impact Of The Haze On Children With Chronic Asthma

Abstract

To determine the impact of the haze on asthma symptomatology in children with chronic asthma on inhaled prophylaxis. The study was prospective and collected information on asthma symptoms from children attending the asthma clinic. A comparison of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR ) measurements before and during the haze was performed for children above 7 years. A total of 97 children were included into the study. Forty (41%) children complained of increased respiratory symptoms during the haze. The most common complaint was an increase in nocturnal cough (55%) followed by nasal symptoms (40%), daytime cough (40%) , nocturnal wheeze (25% ) and daytime wheeze (18%). About half of the children who had increased symptomatology during the haze had to limit outdoor activities. In the 43 children in whom PEFR studies were available, 29 (67%) of them had a fall in the PEFR. However, children with no increase in asthma symptomatology showed a similar fall in PEFR measurement when compared to children with increased asthma symptomatology. The haze appeared to be detrimental to the well being of some children with chronic asthma despite being on inhaled prophylaxis.