Rate and predictors of insufficient sweat volume in very young infants after pilocarpine gel iontophoresis: prospective, population-based study.

Objective: To verify the rate and predictors of 'quantity not sufficient' (QNS) among Brazilian infants younger than 3 months with positive newborn screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF).

Design: Prospective, population-based study.

Setting: Public Statewide Newborn Screening Programme where the incidence rate of CF is ≈1:11 000.

Peak nasal inspiratory flow in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease: a case-control study.

Objective: Sickle cell disease is the most frequent of the hereditary hemoglobinopathies and it presents multisystemic effects. A manifestation that is commonly found in sickle cell disease is upper airway obstruction, particularly adenotonsillar hypertrophy. This study aims to evaluate the peak nasal inspiratory flow measurements of children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

Sweat conductivity for diagnosing cystic fibrosis after positive newborn screening: prospective, diagnostic test accuracy study.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of sweat conductivity among newborns and very young infants.

Design: Prospective, population-based, diagnostic test accuracy study.

Setting: Public Statewide Newborn Screening Programme where the incidence rate of cystic fibrosis (CF) is ≈1:11 000.

Asthma mortality in children and adolescents of Brazil over a 20-year period.

Objective: To evaluate the number of asthma deaths and the temporal trend of the asthma-specific mortality rate in children and adolescents up to 19 years of age in Brazil.

Methods: This is an ecological time-series study of asthma deaths reported in Brazil, in the population up to 19 years of age, between 1996 and 2015. The specific asthma mortality rate and its temporal trend were analyzed.

Lung function in severe pediatric asthma: a longitudinal study in children and adolescents in Brazil.

Background: In severe asthma, high doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are used in order to achieve clinical and functional control. This study aimed to evaluate lung function in outpatients (children and adolescents) with severe asthma in Brazil, all of whom were treated with high doses of ICS. We evaluated all spirometry tests together and by ICS dose: 800 and > 800 µg/day.

Epidemiological trends of allergic diseases in adolescents.

Objective: To assess the prevalences of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis in adolescents in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 2012 by administering the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, as well as to compare the observed prevalences with those found in studies performed 10 years earlier and employing the same methodology used here.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted between May and December of 2012 and involving adolescents in the 13- to 14-year age bracket. Participants were randomly selected from among adolescents studying at public schools in Belo Horizonte and completed the ISAAC questionnaire.

Parapneumonic pleural effusion: early versus late thoracoscopy.

Objective: To evaluate the best time to perform thoracoscopy for the treatment of complicated parapneumonic pleural effusion in the fibrinopurulent phase in patients ≤ 14 years of age, regarding the postoperative evolution and occurrence of complications.

Methods: This was a retrospective comparative study involving patients with parapneumonic pleural effusion presenting with septations or loculations on chest ultrasound who underwent thoracoscopy between January of 2000 and January of 2013. The patients were divided into two groups: early thoracoscopy (ET), performed by day 5 of hospitalization; and late thoracoscopy (LT), performed after day 5 of hospitalization.

Pulmonary function in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease: have we paid proper attention to this problem?

Objective:: To evaluate pulmonary function and functional capacity in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

Methods:: This was a cross-sectional study involving 70 children and adolescents (8-15 years of age) with sickle cell disease who underwent pulmonary function tests (spirometry) and functional capacity testing (six-minute walk test). The results of the pulmonary function tests were compared with variables related to the severity of sickle cell disease and history of asthma and of acute chest syndrome.

Language evaluation protocol for children aged 2 months to 23 months: analysis of sensitivity and specificity.

Purpose: To establish cutoff points for the analysis of the Behavior Observation Form (BOF) of children in the ages of 2 to 23 months and evaluate the sensitivity and specificity by age group and domains (Emission, Reception, and Cognitive Aspects of Language).

Methods: The sample consisted of 752 children who underwent BOF. Each child was classified as having appropriate language development for the age or having possible risk of language impairment.

From lip to lab: salty tasting skin is the main clue that raises clinical suspicion of cystic fibrosis in young infants.

Aim: This study developed a clinical decision rule (CDR) to rule in or rule out cystic fibrosis (CF) in the first weeks of life.

Methods: We combined a two-step nonconcurrent birth cohort and a cross-sectional controlled study in which observers and mothers were blinded to confirmatory sweat test results. Neonates from uncomplicated pregnancies and deliveries, with two subsequent tests for immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) higher than 70 ng/mL, were eligible to take part.

[Adolescence and asthma management: the perspective of adolescents receiving primary health care].

Objective:: To study the influence of adolescence characteristics on asthma management.

Methods:: This was a qualitative study conducted in the city of Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, Southeast Brazil. Data were collected through semistructured interviews guided by a questionnaire with seven asthmatic adolescents followed-up in the primary public health care service of the city.

Pulmonary radiographic findings in young children with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Pulmonary evaluation is one of the greatest challenges in children with cystic fibrosis who are younger than 6 years. Although chest CT can provide the most information for initial and progressive changes in cystic fibrosis, the radiation exposures can lead to significant cumulative exposure in children as they are followed with serial scanning to monitor early and progressive disease. Therefore the systematized study of chest radiographs using the Brasfield score has been used scientifically with the aim of evaluating the evolution of pulmonary abnormalities in children with cystic fibrosis.

Correlation between Bhalla score and spirometry in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis.

Objective: To correlate the findings of high resolution computed tomography of the chest based on the Bhalla score with the clinical data and spirometry in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis, and to study the concordance between two radiologists for the Bhalla score and its categories.

Methods: We evaluated the medical records of 23 patients from the outpatient clinic. The items evaluated included age, weight, height, height/age Z-score, weight/age Z-score, body mass index (BMI), O2 saturation, spirometry and Bhalla score.

["Children cannot wait": why mothers seek urgency and emergency care services for their children in non-urgent situations].

The scope of this article is to seek to understand the reasons why mothers seek urgency and emergency attention for children in non-urgent situations in a public hospital of the Unified Health System in Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais. It is a study involving a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews as the data collection tool. Twenty-seven mothers of children with complaints classified as minor and non-urgent were interviewed.

Correlation between peak nasal inspiratory flow and peak expiratory flow in children and adolescents.

Background: PEAK nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF) has been proposed as a simple method to evaluate nasal patency. Asthma and allergic rhinitis are commonly associated, and lower airway assessment can provide information concerning an objective interpretation of nasal function.

Aims: TO determine whether the PNIF is correlated with peak expiratory flow (PEF) in children and adolescents.

Does BCG revaccination protect against the development of asthma?

Single BCG vaccination has been considered as a protective factor against asthma. However the effect of a second dose of BCG on the prevalence rate of asthma and asthma-allergic rhinitis-eczema comorbidity has not been studied exclusively among adolescents. In this ISAAC protocol-based cross sectional study we assessed the association between one single versus two doses of BCG among 2213 individuals aged 13-14 years old.

Oral and inhaled corticoid treatment for wheezing in the first year of life.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of corticoid utilization for the treatment of wheezing in infants less than 12 months old and to analyze factors associated with this practice.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that administered the validated questionnaire from the International Study on the Prevalence of Wheezing in Infants to 1,261 infants aged 12 to 15 months in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Proportions and 95% confidence intervals were calculated and the chi-square test was used to detect associations between variables.

[Quality of data on the Child Health Record and related factors].

The Child Health Record (CHR) is an essential document for children's health care activities. A cross-sectional study was performed with simple random sampling, aimed at analyzing factors related to quality of data completion on the CHR. Interviews and direct verification of 365 CHRs from 9 health districts in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, were performed.

Quality of life in asthmatic adolescents: an overall evaluation of disease control.

Objective: to evaluate the relative impact of reported symptoms, school absenteeism, hospital admission, medical visits, and the presence of emotional and behavioral disorders on the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of low income asthmatic adolescents.

Methods: Asthmatic adolescents were randomly selected among public schools in Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil. Asthma severity was rated according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) classification.

Asthma and allergic rhinitis co-morbidity: a cross-sectional questionnaire study on adolescents aged 13-14 years.

Aims: There is scarce epidemiological population-based data on the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) co-morbidity in adolescents. The aim was to verify asthma and AR prevalence rates in order to emphasise asthma/AR co-morbidity.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire in adolescents aged 13-14 years, chosen randomly from public schools in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders in adolescents with asthma.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders in adolescents with asthma and to compare it with that of adolescents without asthma.

Methods: A transversal study using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, administered to adolescents with or without asthma, ranging from 14 to 16 years of age and randomly selected from schools in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Results: The prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders in adolescents with and without asthma was 20.