Scholar absenteeism and use of health services in children and adolescents with wheezing]

Asthma is an important problem at the primary care level where almost 97% of the cases are managed. Brazil shows high rates of the disease nevertheless few is known about the characteristics related to school absenteeism and the health care usage among urban pediatric population of Duque de Caxias County, Rio de Janeiro.To obtain an estimate of the prevalence of school absenteeism and to evaluate the use of health care related to wheezing in asthmatic and non asthmatic children and adolescents.An observational cross-sectional study was carried out using a questionnaire for a prospective data collection. The gold standard for asthma was a minimal increment of 12% in the forced expiratory volume of the first second (FEV1), after a bronchodilatation test.211 patients seeking emergency care for a number of conditions with ages between 5 and 15 years were evaluated. Sample asthma prevalence and reported wheezing rates were: 22% (47/211) and 47% (98/211). About 67% (141/211) of the families had an annual income lesser than US dollar 3600. Asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients showed, respectively, the following averages and rates: 1) emergency department visits: 40.4% (19/47) and 29.3% (48/164), 2) ambulatory visits: 34% (16/47) and 14.6% (24/164) (p = 0.003), 3) hospitalizations: 6.4% (3/47) and 4.9% (8/164), 4) number of consultations in ambulatory: 1.74 (SD = 2.71) and 0.47 (SD = 1.44) (p = 0.00003), 5) number of visits in emergency department: 1.47 (SD = 2.36) and 0.95 (SD = 2.15).The results are relevant as they describe asthma morbidity, showing that wheezing is a heavy burden to the population of Duque de Caxias. Further studies are needed to better evaluate the group of children and adolescents that although being classified as non-asthmatic presented some characteristics that were to the asthmatic patients.