Asthma is a chronic condition involving inflammation in the airways. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about seven million children currently have asthma in the United States. Despite improvements in prevention and treatment strategies, the prevalence of asthma among children continues to rise. There are several signs and symptoms that help establish the diagnosis of asthma in children.
Cough
One of the main symptoms of asthma in children is cough. The cough tends to be dry, with no production of phlegm, and occurring in bouts. It takes place after exposure to asthma triggers, like allergens (such as pollen or pet dander), exercise and cold weather. It usually worsens at night, causing sleep difficulty. Occasionally, the forceful nature of the cough can create erosions in the upper airway, resulting in blood-tinged phlegm. Forceful coughing can also rupture capillaries in the face and eyes, creating tiny, pinpoint bruises called petechiae.
Respiratory Distress
Children with asthma often have significant respiratory distress, usually accompanied by coughing. In asthma, the child's airways are constricted by the surrounding inflammation. This causes an increased respiratory rate, or rapid breathing, as the child tries to get in more air through the narrowed airways. This also results in retractions, or pulling in of the abdominal and chest muscles to try to draw in oxygen-rich air. The other common sign of asthma is wheezing, a high-pitched noise made during expiration of air. Think of wheezing as the noise one makes when blowing on a straw: air going through the narrowed airways of asthma causes this noise. But it's also important that air is moving. The absence of wheezing may not signal improvement, but instead may signal a worsening of symptoms, especially if the patient is unable to move enough air to even create the wheezing sound.
Other Symptoms
Children with asthma often have difficulty sleeping; this can result in daytime drowsiness that can impair their learning abilities at school. Children with recurrent severe asthma can also have significant nutritional deficiencies due to being sick all the time, and can also experience growth delay. Children undergoing a severe asthma attack, a condition referred to as status asthmaticus, can also develop cyanosis, or a bluish tinge around their lips or on their fingertips that signals severe oxygen deprivation.
