Initial vegetative tone in mild atopic asthma in children

Background. In most industrialized countries, allergic diseases affect up to 20% of the population. This pathology belongs to the most common in children: according to the World Health Organization, more than 15% of the world's child population suffers from it. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the frequency and more severe course of these diseases, in connection with which they are considered in modern society as a major medical and social problem. Thus, the prevalence of bronchial asthma, according to domestic and foreign authors, ranges from 0.2 to 8.1%.

Purpose. In order to clarify the role of the autonomic nervous system in the genesis of the mild course of atopic bronchial asthma in childhood, the features of the interaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system in the examined children were clarified.

Materials and methods. 126 children aged 10 to 14 years were examined. Atopic bronchial asthma was diagnosed in 91 children. At the same time, 61 of them were diagnosed with an intermittent course, 30 – a mild persistent course of the disease. The control group consisted of 35 healthy children also aged 10 to 14 years. Complaints, anamnesis data were studied in all children, an objective and generally accepted laboratory and instrumental examination was carried out. All examined children underwent daily monitoring of the electrocardiogram, according to the results of which, based on the analysis of time and frequency indicators of heart rate variability, a variant of the initial autonomic tone was established.

Results. In children with atopic bronchial asthma, both with intermittent and mild persistent course, an absolute or relative dominance of sympathetic influences was revealed against the background of varying degrees of decrease in parasympathetic activity, which was interpreted as a compensatory reaction of the body in response to chronic allergic inflammation.