PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Strachan, David P.
TI  - The prevalence and natural history of wheezing in early childhood
DP  - 1985 Apr 01
TA  - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
PG  - 182--184
VI  - 35
IP  - 273
4099  - http://bjgp.org/content/35/273/182.short
4100  - http://bjgp.org/content/35/273/182.full
SO  - J R Coll Gen Pract1985 Apr 01; 35
AB  - The general practice records of 437 children were reviewed at seven years of age. Of 369 children with complete records, 115 (31 per cent) had some record of wheeze. Over half of these had first presented before the age of three years. In terms of consultations for wheezing or lower respiratory tract illness at the ages of five to seven years, the earlier the onset of wheeze the better the prognosis. Comparison of data from parental questionnaires with the general practice records of 174 children suggested that parental recall of early episodes of wheeze is incomplete and biassed by the severity and persistence of the symptoms of the child. Questionnaire surveys may therefore have excluded many mild cases of wheezing in early childhood, thus underestimating the prevalance of wheezing in infancy, and overestimating the proportion of such cases who progress to persistent wheezing in later childhood.