Relationship Between Lung Sound Power and Factors Related to the Onset of Asthma in Three-year-old Children.

OBJECTIVE

Childhood asthma can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults, thus necessitating an early diagnosis and timely intervention from early childhood.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted on parameters related to lung sound power in three-year-old healthy children. All cases were surveyed using the ATS-DLD questionnaire, which mainly covered items related to the history of wheezing, diagnosis of asthma/asthmatic bronchitis, and history of allergies, and then lung sounds were measured. From these data, the characteristics of inspiratory and expiratory sound power at this age were examined.

RESULTS

There were correlations between the parameters related to lung sound power at the low- and middle-range frequencies. In addition, children with a history of wheezing or diagnosed with asthma/asthmatic bronchitis showed an increase in the power of inspiratory and expiratory sounds and the power ratio of inspiratory and expiratory sounds compared with children without such histories. Furthermore, the parameters of lung sound power correlated with those of the inspiratory sound spectrum.

CONCLUSIONS

Measurements of the power of inspiratory and expiratory sounds confirmed that three-year-old children with a history of wheezing or diagnosed asthma/asthmatic bronchitis had characteristic lung sounds even when healthy.