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New guidelines focus on pediatric asthma
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10-25-99 Washington. Alarmed by the escalating rate of asthma in children, the nation's leading pediatric and asthma experts last week released the first national guidelines for identifying and treating pediatric asthma. "The previous guidelines had information that spoke about kids, but we've never had national guidelines specifically designed for pediatric asthma before," said Carol Costante, MA, RN, the only nurse on the 12-member task force that developed the new guidelines. The set of stand-alone pediatric treatment recommendations from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology were adapted from a 1997 expert panel on child and adult asthma. Virtually every major national asthma and pediatric healthcare organization endorsed the guidelines at a news conference in Washington Oct. 22. Healthcare providers using the guidelines can get detailed advice on the diagnosis and care of asthma, including recommended medications and peak-flow monitoring, as well as handouts that explain the condition to children and their parents. Costante, a specialist in the Office of Health Services for the Baltimore County Public Schools, said the document gives a special nod to school nurses. "They are the health professionals with the most consistent day-to-day involvement with kids with asthma," Costante said. "So, school nurses have a strong role in diagnosis and identification, and we can really help raise the bar on the standard of care." Asthma, a symptom of lung inflammation, is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting nearly 5 million children and adolescents. It accounts for more pediatric hospitalizations each year than any other illness. For reasons that still mystify experts, asthma prevalence among adults jumped 75 percent between 1980 and 1994, and 160 percent among children ages 4 and younger.
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