Lung ultrasound in children with asthma exacerbation: a longitudinal study

TL;DR

Lung ultrasound can detect changes in children with asthma flare-ups more effectively than in those with controlled asthma.

Contribution

This study shows that lung ultrasound has potential as a non-invasive tool for assessing asthma exacerbations in children.

Findings

51.5% of children with asthma exacerbation had positive lung ultrasound findings.

Only 12.1% of children with controlled asthma showed positive findings.

The prevalence ratio of 2.27 indicates a significant difference between the groups.

Abstract

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a non-invasive imaging method that does not use ionizing radiation, making it particularly useful for evaluating children and adolescents.

This study aimed to compare LUS findings in children and adolescents with asthma exacerbation to those with controlled asthma.

A prospective longitudinal observational study was conducted, following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist for reporting observational studies.

Among patients with asthma exacerbation, 33 individuals were analyzed, and the study found that 51.5% of children in the exacerbation group had positive ultrasound findings, compared to only 12.1% in the controlled group. The calculated prevalence ratio was 2.27 (95% CI 1.46–3.55), with a p-value of 0.001, indicating a statistically significant difference in ultrasound findings between the two groups.

These findings suggest that lung ultrasound may be a useful tool for identifying changes in children with asthma exacerbations. The significantly higher prevalence of positive findings in the exacerbation group (51.5%) compared to the controlled group (12.1%) suggests that LUS has the potential to detect changes associated with asthma exacerbation. Further research, including multicenter studies, is needed to validate these findings.

LUS demonstrated a higher prevalence of positive findings during asthma exacerbations, suggesting potential clinical utility as an adjunctive tool in pediatric asthma assessment.