Profile of asthma in a pediatric setting at the paediatric department of the Ignace National Hospital in Conakry

Introduction: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease, common in pediatrics, often underdiagnosed and poorly documented in our context. The objective was to contribute to the study of the frequency and associated atopias of asthma in children aged 3 to 15 years in the paediatric department of the Ignace Deen National Hospital. Methodology: The study was observational for six months (May 1 to October 31, 2019) in the pediatric department of the Ignace Deen National Hospital, Conakry covering all children admitted for asthma. Results: Out of 4225 children received, we had recorded 105 asthmatics, i.e. a hospital frequency of (2.48%), largely dominated by young children (3-6 years), 51 cases (48.57%). The mean age was 7.51 ± 2.99 years, with a sex ratio of 1.02 (male 53(50.50%)). The suggestive symptoms reported by children ≤ 5 years were cough (100%) and dyspnoea (77.42%). Cough (90.54%) and chest tightness (58.11%) were also reported by ages over 5 years. Personal atopic comorbidities were dominated by allergic rhinitis (63.80%). Familial nuclear atopy reported was allergic rhinitis in nearly half (48.57%) and asthma (28.57%) of cases. Obesity was found in (6.70%) of children. The (58.10%) cases were not known to have asthmatics. The others (41.9%) were former asthmatics among whom (47.70%) were not on disease-modifying treatment. Intermittent asthma was most common in naïve children (52.44%) and (69.55%) of children had controlled asthma on disease-modifying treatments. Conclusion: This study shows a low frequency that testifies to the underdiagnosis of the condition in our context. An analytical study on underdiagnosis will identify the associated factors. Keywords: asthma profile, paediatric setting, Ignace Deen, Conakry.