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Asthma and acute chest in sickle‐cell disease

Our objective was to determine if physician‐diagnosed asthma increases the risk of acute chest syndrome (ACS) in children with sickle‐cell disease (SCD) hospitalized for pain. Our study design was a retrospective case‐control study of all SCD patients, aged 2–21 years, hospitalized for pain during the interval 1999–2000. Medical records of first admissions during the interval were reviewed to determine the presence of ACS during the admission. Cases were defined as patients with ACS, and controls were patients without ACS. Independently, medical records of admissions prior to the study interval were reviewed for evidence of physician‐diagnosed asthma. Sixty‐three cases with ACS and 76 controls without ACS were identified. No significant differences in gender, age, and hemoglobin phenotype were found. Patients with physician‐diagnosed asthma were 4.0 times (95% CI, 1.7, 9.5) more likely to develop ACS during the admission than patients without asthma. Individuals with physician‐diagnosed asthma had a longer hospitalization for ACS, i.e., 5.6 days vs. 2.6 days, respectively (P = 0.01). In conclusion, our preliminary data suggest that asthma in children with SCD admitted to the hospital for pain may be a risk factor for ACS and may increase the duration of hospitalization when compared to children with SCD and without asthma. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.