Pediatric Asthma: Knowledge of a School Community

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease frequent in pediatric patients. The school should have a leading role helping asthmatic students cope with the disease.

Objective: Characterize the knowledge of the school community Gualdim Pais about pediatric asthma.

Methods: Descriptive and transversal study, with application of an anonymous query. The frequency analysis was executed under Microsoft Office Excel®.

Results: 46 participants were included in this study, most were teachers and assistants (56.5% and 30.4%), with an average age of 44.3 years. Almost all (93.48%) recognize that asthma is common in pediatric age, 41.3% thinks this is an infectious disease and 24.9% reject that laughing can cause asthma crisis. Most of them (97.8%) know that asthma causes reversible airway obstruction and recognizes continuous care are required (76.1%). However, 41.3% of respondents believe that this disease is curable and 45.7% report being a rare cause of hospitalization. A minority (6.5%) believe that the practice of physical exercise is contraindicated in asthmatics. As for treatment, 87.0% know that includes medication control and crisis and 33.0% believes that inhaled therapy is responsible for gaining weight. In the opinion of 80.4% of individuals preventive measures may be implemented in schools which aim to prevent exacerbations in asthmatics.

Conclusion: Despite the therapeutic evolution, the asthma control is a challenge and this pathology is a frequent cause of hospitalization. The results express many doubts and myths about asthma so the focus on training is essential, taking into account the time spent by the child/adolescent in school. The training allows you to establish preventive measures and act correctly in case of crisis, promoting a better quality of life for asthmatics. Optimizing communication and coordination between health care, family and school promotes the improvement of care and reduction of hospitalizations.