Introduction:

In these times, there are about 300 million people with the diagnosis of bronchial asthma worldwide and there is a mortality of 250 thousand per year. Cuba is not unaware of this reality.

Objective:

To describe the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of the exacerbation of bronchial asthma in children assisted in the emergency service of "Juan Manuel Márquez" Pediatric University Hospital from January to December 2018.

Material and Methods:

A descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on 600 children from 1 to 18 years of age that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. These children were assisted in the emergency service of "Juan Manuel Márquez" Pediatric University Hospital from January to December 2018.

Results:

The highest percentage of patients were males (53 %) and from the age group 5 to 9 years (46,3 %). Among the risk factors that predominated in the study, viral infections (51,3%), weather changes (58,2 %), and non-adherence to treatment (45,5 %) were observed. The asthma crises were frequent from October to December (38,3 %), and from 3 to 6 episodes occurred annually (67,7 %). The degree of severity was mild (82,0 %).

Conclusions:

Exacerbations of bronchial asthma are frequent in pediatric emergency services.

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