Asthma Attacks: Parents Slow to Respond
Reported February 12, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire)– A new report finds parents of kids with asthma wait too long to treat their symptoms.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say parents are missing opportunities to intervene early and relieve a child’s symptoms, possibly reducing the severity of the attack and preventing trips to the ER.
For the study, asthma coaches called 101 parents of children who had recent visits to the hospital with an asthma attack, or who called the hospital’s After Hours Call Center. Parents reported noticing signs such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, cold or allergy symptoms, or even behavioral signs such as becoming quiet or more agitated.
“Every time the child had an exacerbation, many parents noticed the same medley of signs preceding it,” Jane Garbutt, M.B., Ch.B., associate professor of medicine and pediatrics, was quoted as saying. “But even though they noticed the signs consistently, they often didn’t do anything about it. If parents had known to give treatment like albuterol earlier, they may have been able to manage things at home and avoid a trip to the emergency room.”
Another problem researchers noted: Parents didn’t notice the early signs that predict an attack. One in four parents who was interviewed reported seeing late signs of an attack, including gasping for breath or sucking in the rib muscles when breathing.
“Those kids have to go to the emergency department because they are too far along in their exacerbation to do anything at home,” Garbutt said. “If we can talk to parents and find out that’s the issue, we can teach them to take action sooner.”
Garbutt and fellow researchers are doing a follow-up study in which coaches are working with doctors to promote earlier use of albuterol as well as other effective self-management behaviors. The coaches are also working with parents to help them indentify the early signs of an asthma attack.
Source: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, February 2010