NEW YORK: Preschoolers with persistent asthma symptoms may be more likely to get into fights with their peers or otherwise have more behaviour problems than children with less severe asthma, a study finds.

“These findings suggest a clear need for an early bio-psychosocial approach to care for vulnerable children with asthma,” according to study author Dr. Jill S. Halterman, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York, and colleagues.

“The combined burden of asthma and behaviour difficulties could have a significant impact on children and their families,” Halterman told Reuters Health.

The findings are based on an analysis of surveys completed by parents of children in an urban school district who were entering kindergarten. The surveys included questions about the children’s medical history, including whether the child had asthma and whether the symptoms were persistent or intermittent, and about the children’s behaviour.

Fifteen per cent of the 1,619 children included in the study experienced asthma symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, or shortness of breath, and 8 percent had persistent symptoms, which woke them from sleep more than one night a month or required a visit to the emergency department on more than three occasions during the previous year.

Overall, children with persistent asthma symptoms earned the highest, meaning the worst, scores in negative peer social skills, such as hurting others, bothering other children, or fighting with other children, Halterman and her team report in the journal Pediatrics.

These children also scored worse than those with intermittent asthma symptoms in a measurement of their task orientation, such as their level of concentration, and in a measurement of their shy/anxious behaviour, the report indicates.

“The stress related to having asthma might contribute to behavioural problems because the family’s focus on the medical issue may make managing behaviour more difficult,” according to Halterman. “On the other hand,” she speculated, “behaviour problems may make managing asthma symptoms more difficult.”—Reuters