Background:

Wheezing occurs frequently in pediatric ages; some characteristics present in children with wheezing can help us to predict its evolution in most patients.

Objective:

To characterize children under five years with wheezing.

Methodology:

A descriptive observational study was conducted in Guáimaro from June 2015 to December 2016, in 329 children under 5 years who presented wheezing. The information was obtained through a questionnaire applied to the children´s parents.

Results:

In 62.3 %, wheezing began before the year of life, 55.1 % were male, 65.3 % were occasional and 38.9 % atopic. The cause in 41.9 % of the children was bronchiolitis and in 36.8 % allergic. 49.8 % of children with wheezing associated with respiratory infections started before the year and 27.9 % of those not related to these infections started after the year. 80.5 % of the occasional sibilants had begun before the year of life and 71.9 % of the recurrent ones after the year. The atopic trait was present in 79.8 % of the recurrent and 17.2 % of the occasional ones.

Conclusions:

The characteristics of children with wheezing were: predominance of children under 1 year old, male, occasional wheezing and had no atopic trait. Wheezing associated with respiratory infections was more frequent. Most occasional sibilants had their first episode before the year of life and did not present associated atopic trait, and recurrent sibilants presented their first obstructive episode after the year and had associated atopic trait.

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