Childhood asthma following hospitalization with acute viral bronchiolitis in infancy

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Abstract
A prospective follow-up of 48 infants hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in the first year of life revealed that 44 of these infants had symptoms suggestive of asthma in the 5 years following their initial illness (cumulative prevalence 92%). Symptoms became less frequent and less troublesome during the follow-up period. Thirty-five of these children visited the laboratory for clinical examination, pulmonary function testing, and histamine challenge. Twenty-five children were believed to have clinical evidence of asthma at the time of the laboratory visit (point prevalence 71%). Five children were unable to perform pulmonary function tests; 25 of the remaining 30 (67%) had a positive histamine challenge test. No relationship could be demonstrated between a clinical diagnosis of asthma, a family history of atopy, and the results of histamine challenge testing. These results question the relationship between the results of bronchial provocation tests and clinical asthma in this age group. Pediatr Pilmonol. 1989; 7:153–158.