Calgary hospital sees unusually high number of young asthma patients

CALGARY- Nathaneal Johnson is breathing easy now, but a few weeks ago, the 12-year-old found himself gasping for air.

“It was hard to breathe, I couldn’t talk or move,” he recalls. “My dad took me to the hospital and that’s how I ended up in the ICU.”

According to the Alberta Children’s Hospital, a total of 25 children have been admitted to the ICU since September because of asthma–an unusually high number.

“It’s been a tough fall,” says respirologist Dr. Mark Anselmo. “Although the number of patients going to emergency has gone down, we’re actually seeing sicker kids and a lot more of them are ending up in our intensive care unit.”

September is known for being a particularly tough time for children with asthma. Cold and flu season, going back to school and colder temperatures mean children’s hospitals right across the country usually see an increase in asthma cases. It is a phenomenon known as the “September Spike” but it appears this year, Calgary’s spike has yet to dip.

“We’ve had three children with asthma in the last week that have been admitted to the ICU,” says Karen Stoski, a certified asthma educator at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.  “Parents can help by making sure their children continue to take their medication consistently, we also recommend everyone in the family has a flu shot.”

Children who have not yet been diagnosed with asthma may also be at risk. 80 per cent of this fall’s ICU cases involved children with no prior asthma diagnosis. Dr. Anselmo says any child experiencing breathing problems should be properly assessed.

“The kind of children we want to see are the ones visibly having difficulty breathing.  You’ll notice their nostrils will be flaring, they’ll be sucking in the skin above their clavicles, and in between their ribs you’ll see that the child is working very hard to breathe.”