Arterial blood gases and acid-base status of adult patients presenting with acute severe asthma at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi.

Forty adult patients with acute severe asthma were assessed for arterial blood gases and acid-base changes at presentation at the Casualty Unit, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya. Marked degrees of hypoxaemia (mean P(a)O2 of 8.02 kP(a)), hypocapnia (mean P(a)CO2 of 4.62kP(a)) with apparently normal pH (mean 7.384) were documented in the majority of these patients. Based on these findings, a significant number of the patients (68.5%) were either candidates (5.3%) or potential candidates (63.2%) for artificial ventilation. Records at this hospital suggest an increasing trend in asthma admissions and mortality. Additionally, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions for asthma are associated with high mortality (54.4%). Pulsus paradoxicus emerged as the most significant (p = 0.002) clinical correlate to asthma severity. Central cyanosis was detected in none of the study patients suggesting that it is an unusual finding in the common presentation of acute severe asthma at this hospital. Its clinical detection would therefore imply an ominous clinical state. It is recommended that clinicians should take every opportunity to adequately assess their asthma patients before prescribing medications. They are also encouraged to more frequently request for blood gas studies in acute asthma. Those in charge of clinical teaching should direct appropriate efforts towards improved understanding of the pathophysiology and interpretation of acid-base disorders.