• Wim C J Hop, Peter J F M Merkus, Annemie L M Boehmer, Anja A P H Vaessen-Verberne, and Leonieke N van Veen.
• Department of Pediatric Intensive Care, Erasmus Medical Center-Sophia, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. g.vandenbosch@erasmusmc.nl
• Resp Care. 2012 Sep 1;57(9):1391-7.

IntroductionSevere acute asthma in children is associated with substantial morbidity and may require pediatric ICU (PICU) admission. The aim of the study was to determine risk factors for PICU admission.MethodsThe study used a retrospective multicenter case-control design. The cases included children admitted to the PICU because of severe acute asthma and a history of out-patient treatment by pediatricians or pediatric pulmonologists. Controls were children with asthma without a PICU admission for severe acute asthma. The children were matched for sex, age, hospital, and time elapsed since the diagnosis of asthma. Fourteen possible risk factors were analyzed.ResultsSixty-six cases were matched to 164 controls. In univariate analysis, all but one of the analyzed variables were significantly associated with PICU-hospitalization. After multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis, 4 risk factors remained significant. These included active or passive smoking, allergies, earlier hospitalization for asthma, and non-sanitized home.ConclusionsPhysicians and parents should be aware of these risk factors, and efforts should be made to counteract them.Copyright 2012 Daedalus Enterprises

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