Studies within the last 20 years have shown that the incidence of asthma is increased in children who have been hospitalized with bronchiolitis due to respiratory syncytial virus. To evaluate such respiratory consequences in an ambulatory population, a follow-up study was done of 37 children who had respiratory syncytial virus infection documented at a community pediatric clinic in 1968 when they were younger than 4 years. This study, done ten years later by chart review and parental interview, showed that asthma had sub sequently been diagnosed in three (8%). Thus, an increased risk for the development of asthma after respiratory syncytial virus infection was not found. Comparison of these data with those from previous reviews questions a causative role for respiratory syncytial virus in childhood asthma.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ACCP-ATS Joint Committee on Pulmonary Nomenclature : Pulmonary terms and symbols. Chest67:583, 1975
2.
Austen KF: The atopic diseases: definition and comment, Immunological Diseases, Volume 2, Third Edition. Edited by M Samter.Boston, Little, Brown & Company, 1978, p 781
3.
Lowell FC: "Asthma," "rhinitis" and "atopy" reconsidered (editorial). N Engl J Med300:669, 1979
4.
Denny FW, Collier AM, Henderson FW, Clyde WA, Jr: The epidemiology of bronchiolitis. Pediatr Res11:234, 1977
5.
Wohl Meb, Chernick V.: Bronchiolitis. Am Rev Respir Dis118:759, 1978
6.
Wittig HJ, Cranford NJ, Glaser J.: The relationship between bronchiolitis and childhood asthma: a follow-up study of 100 cases of bronchiolitis in infancy. J Allergy30:19, 1959
7.
Eisen AH, Bacal HL: The relationship of acute bronchiolitis to bronchial asthma—a 4-to-14 year follow-up. Pediatrics31:859, 1963
8.
Zweiman B., Schoenwetter WF, Pappano JE, Jr, Tempest B., Hildreth EA: Patterns of allergic respiratory disease in children with a past history of bronchiolitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol48:283, 1971
9.
Rooney JC, Williams HE: The relationship between proved viral bronchiolitis and subsequent wheezing . J Pediatr79:744, 1971
10.
Sims DG, Downham MAPS, Gardner PS, Webb JKG, Weightman D: Study of 8-year-old children with a history of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in infancy. Br Med J1:11, 1978
11.
Chanock RM, Kim HW, Vargosko AJ, Deleva A., Johnson KM, Cumming C., Parrott RH: Respiratory syncytial virus. I. Virus recovery and other observations during 1960 outbreak of bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and minor respiratory diseases in children. JAMA176:647, 1961
12.
Parrott RH, Vargosko AJ, Kim HW, Cumming C., Turner H., Huebner RJ, Chanock RM: Respiratory syncytial virus. II. Serologic studies over a 34-month period of children with bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and minor respiratory diseases . JAMA176:653, 1961
13.
Kim HW, Arrobio JO, Brandt CD, Jeffries BC, Pyles G., Reid JL, Chanock RM, Parrott RH: Epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus infection in Washington, D.C. I. Importance of the virus in different respiratory tract disease syndromes and temporal distribution of infection. Am J Epidemiol98:216, 1973
14.
Mufson MA, Levine HD, Wasil RE, Mocega-Gonzalez HE, Krause HE: Epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus infection among infants and children in Chicago. Am J Epidemiol98:88, 1973
15.
Hoekstra RE , Herrmann EC, Jr, O'Connell EJ: Virus infections in children: clinical comparison of overlapping outbreaks of influenza A2/Hong Kong/68 and respiratory syncytial virus infections. Am J Dis Child120:14, 1970
16.
Smith JM: Epidemiology and natural history of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis (eczema), Allergy: Principles and Practice, Volume 2. Edited by E Middieton , Jr, CE Reed, EF Ellis.St. Louis, C. V. Mosby Company, 1978, p 633
17.
Smith JM, Knowler LA: Epidemiology of asthma and allergic rhinitis. I. In a rural area. II. In a university-centered community. Am Rev Respir Dis92:16, 1965
18.
Broder I., Higgins MW, Matthews KP, Keller JB: Epidemiology of asthma and allergic rhinitis in a total community, Tecumseh, Michigan. IV. Natural history. J Allergy Clin Immunol54: 100, 1974
