Does having an asthmatic sibling affect the quality of life in children?

Chronic illness in a family member leads to deterioration of quality of life in other members of that family. We aimed to investigate the influence of having an asthmatic sibling on a child’s quality of life (QoL). We enrolled 2-12 year aged healthy children with an asthmatic sibling in the study group and healthy children with a healthy sibling in the control group of this cross-sectional study. Sociodemographic characteristics of children and disease severity characteristics of asthmatic siblings were recorded. All parents filled in Turkish generic PedsQL™ short form appropriate for the child’s age group. Study and control groups had 114 children each. Total PedsQL™ scores were not significantly different in any of the age groups (p=0.23, p=0.13, p= 0.11 respectively). Emotional PedsQL™ sub-scores in children with an asthmatic sibling were significantly worse (83.0±16.5 vs 91.6±10.9 in the 2-4 year age group, 72.0±17.8 vs 92.2±11.6 in the 5-7 year age group, 73.7±24.1 vs 88.7±14.8 in the 8-12 year age group respectively, p≤0.002 for all). Similarly, psychosocial sub-score was significantly lower in the 2-4 and 5-7-year-olds but not the 8-12 year old groups (p=0.01, p=0.01, p=0.08 respectively). In conclusion, healthy children with asthmatic siblings have significantly lower emotional QoL and this needs to investigated for other chronic diseases in further research. © 2017, Turkish Journal of Pediatrics. All rights reserved

Safety of subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy in children: A retrospective review and bird eye to literature

Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy (SCIT) has been shown to improve clinical course in children with asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR). Systemic and local side-effects may be seen during its administration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with systemic and local side-effects in children receiving SCIT. We performed a retrospective chart review in the children who received allergen subcutaneous immunotherapy for asthma and/or allergen rhinitis. Demographic data, diagnosis, skin prick test results, presence of additional allergic diseases, the seasonal variation of adverse events in the first and third years of SCIT were recorded. A total of 508 eligible patients were included in the study. Mean age of the children was 10.9±3.2 years, and 65.4% were male. Asthma was present in 21.9% of the children, AR in 44.7%, 33.5% of them had both asthma and AR. According to the skin prick test results, sensitivity to more than one allergen was present in 45.1%, while the most common single-allergen sensitivities were to grass pollen and dermatophagoids (32.5% and 14.4%, respectively). Ratio of systemic and local side-effects was 4.7% and 9.3%, respectively. Local side-effects were more common than systemic reaction. SCIT is a safe treatment modality while using the appropriate dose and with the administration of dose-escalation protocol. © 2018, Turkish Journal of Pediatrics. All rights reserved

Destekli Travma Tahtası: Fizyomekanik Bir Çalışma

Introduction: The use of backboard is a widely-accepted practice for the stabilization of major trauma cases. Discomfort and pressure pain due to the use of backboard are common complications. In this study, we aimed to reduce the discomfort and pressure pain due to the use of backboard. Materials and methods: The study was carried out with 20 healthy volunteers. In the first stage, the volunteers were placed in the supine position for 5 minutes on the standard backboard(STB) and on the supported backboard(SUB). The pressures in the occipital, scapular, and sacral regions were measured while lying on an STB and an SUB. In the second stage, the volunteers were placed in the supine position on an STB or an SUB as two episodes of 60 minutes. Visual Analog Scale(VAS) was used for evaluation of the pain at 10,15,30,45 and 60th minutes. Results: When the VAS scores while lying on an STB and an SUB were compared in the volunteers, general pain and pain in the occipital, scapular, and sacral regions were found to be statistically significantly decreased at all minutes while lying on an SUB. When the pressures while lying on an STB and an SUB were compared in the volunteers, there was no statistically significant difference between the areas exposed to the pressure above the capillary filling pressure in the occipital and scapular regions. However, as a positive result, the area exposed to the pressure below the capillary filling pressure in the sacral region while lying on an SUB was found to be high at a statistically significant level. Conclusion:Although it is needed to be slightly improved in terms of the pressure due to lengthened transport time and lengthened waiting time on a backboard, the SUB, which we used to reduce pressure pain, was demonstrated to provide significant benefits.Giriş: Travma tahtası kullanımı major travma olgularının stabilizasyonu ic?in genis? o?lc?u?de kabul edilmis? bir uygulamadır. Travma tahtası kullanımına bag?lı olus?an rahatsızlık hissi ve bası ag?rısı sık kars?ılas?ılan komplikasyonlardandır. Bu c?alıs?mamızdaki amacımız travma tahtası kullanımına bag?lı olus?an rahatsızlık hissi ve bası ag?rısının azaltılmasıdır. Gereç ve Yöntem: çalışma 20 adet gönüllü ile yapılmıştır. Birinci as?amada go?nu?llu?ler, standart travma tahtası (STT) ve bu c?alıs?mada olus?turulan destekli travma tahtasına(DTT) 5 dakika su?re ile supin pozisyonda yatırılmıs?tır. STT ve DTT u?zerinde yatarken oksipital, skapular ve sakral bo?lgelerdeki olus?an basınc?lar o?lc?u?lmu?s?tu?r. I?kinci as?amada ise 60’ar dakikalık iki bo?lu?m halinde go?nu?llu?ler STT ve DTT u?zerinde supin pozisyonda yatırılmıs?tır. Bu iki bo?lu?mu?n ilk 10 dakikası olay anındaki gibi ambulans ic?erisinde gec?mis? olup, sonraki 50 dakika boyunca da kis?iler supin pozisyonda STT ve DTT u?zerinde acil serviste yatmaya devam etmis?tir. Ag?rının deg?erlendirilmesi ic?in 10, 15, 30, 45 ve 60. dakikalarda Visual Analog Skala (VAS) kullanılmıs?tır. Bulgular: Go?nu?llu?lerin DTT ve STT u?zerinde VAS kars?ılas?tırmasında tu?m sorgulama dakikalarında genel ag?rının ve oksipital bo?lge, skapular bo?lge ve sakral bo?lgelerdeki ag?rının DTT u?zerindeyken istatistiksel olarak anlamlı du?zeyde azaldıg?ı saptanmıs?tır. DTT ve STT u?zerindeyken olus?an basınc?lar kars?ılas?tırıldıg?ında; oksipital bo?lge ve skapular bo?lgelerde kapiller dolum basıncının u?zerinde basıya ug?rayan alanlar arasında istatistiksel fark bulunmamakla beraber, olumlu bir sonuc? olarak DTT u?zerindeyken sakral bo?lgede kapiller dolum basıncının altında basıya ug?rayan alan oranının anlamlı du?zeyde yu?ksek oldug?u saptanmıs?tır. Sonuc?: Travma tahtası u?zerinde transfer sırasında ve travma tahtası u?zerinde bekleme su?resinin uzaması nedeniyle olus?acak basınc? ac?ısında biraz daha gelis?tirilmeye ihtiyac? duyulmakla beraber bası ag?rılarının azaltılmasında kullanmıs? oldug?umuz DTT’nın o?nemli fayda sag?ladıg?ı ortaya konmus?tur

Effects of vitamin D levels on asthma control and severity in pre-school children

OBJECTIVE: Prevalence of asthma and vitamin D deficiency has been increasing and leading to significant morbidities. This study aimed to compare the vitamin D levels in the pre-school children with asthma and in healthy controls and to assess the relationship between vitamin D levels and asthma clinical parameters and control