Pediatric asthma admissions: chronic severity and acute exacerbations.

Factors resulting in intensive care unit (ICU) admissions for asthma exacerbations remain largely unclear. We compared ICU and general pediatric ward admissions for asthma exacerbations. Charts of 56 (2- to 18-year-old) patients admitted consecutively to the ICU during a 1-year period for asthma exacerbations were compared with charts of 56 age-, sex-, race-, and era-matched patients admitted to a general pediatric ward. Few patients in both groups received oral steroids before admission. Children with different chronic asthma severities had comparable severities of acute exacerbation. In conclusion, acute asthma exacerbations dissociate in severity from chronic asthma and are under-treated with systemic corticosteroids.