Lung ultrasound in children with asthma exacerbation: a longitudinal study

INTRODUCTION: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a non-invasive imaging method that does not use ionizing radiation, making it particularly useful for evaluating children and adolescents. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare LUS findings in children and adolescents with asthma exacerbation to those with controlled asthma. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal observational study was conducted, following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist for reporting observational studies. RESULTS: Among patients with asthma exacerbation, 33 individuals were analyzed, and the study found that 51.5% of children in the exacerbation group had positive ultrasound findings, compared to only 12.1% in the controlled group. The calculated prevalence ratio was 2.27 (95% CI 1.46-3.55), with a p-value of 0.001, indicating a statistically significant difference in ultrasound findings between the two groups. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that lung ultrasound may be a useful tool for identifying changes in children with asthma exacerbations. The significantly higher prevalence of positive findings in the exacerbation group (51.5%) compared to the controlled group (12.1%) suggests that LUS has the potential to detect changes associated with asthma exacerbation. Further research, including multicenter studies, is needed to validate these findings. CONCLUSION: LUS demonstrated a higher prevalence of positive findings during asthma exacerbations, suggesting potential clinical utility as an adjunctive tool in pediatric asthma assessment.