Exercise-induced Bronchial Lability in Children with a History of Wheezy Bronchitis

Exercise tests were carried out on 18 children who had had wheezy bronchitis under the age of 5 years during hospitalization 7 years previously. A control group of 12 children who had been hospitalized with gastroenteritis at the same time were also studied. It was found that there was still a significant increase in bronchial lability among the wheezy bronchitis group compared with the controls, and this was especially obvious in the 7 children who had continued to have mild episodes of wheezing. It is suggested that the same abnormal mechanism operates in at least some cases of wheezy bronchitis as it does in asthma.