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56
The Following Interesting Facts emerged from a
preliminary Study of the Results of the Survey
(1) Of 2,003 children who had dental gas in 1958, 20
clinic asthmatics and 17 clinic bronchitics presented
no anaesthetic problems
(2) No adverse reactions were reported from poliomyelitis
immunisations given to the bronchial asthmatics, of
whom 38% had varying degrees of eczema
(3) The effects of tonsillectomy seemed beneficial only
in cases of chronic bronchitis.
(4) Almost 50% of the asthmatic children had a positive
skin reaction to mixed pollens, yet only 19% of them
had a personal history of Hay Fever This suggests
that skin tests for pollen are of no great value in
the type of case normally referred to the clinic
(5) The majority of the bronchial asthmatics (45%) showed
a tendency to have their worst attacks in winter,
although 30% had attacks at any time The main pre
cipitating cause of the attacks of asthma were given
as being due to anxiety, excitement, or head colds
Often the causation was a combination of the above
factors. On the other hand the adult asthmatics (50%)
stated that their worst attacks occurred at any time
and only 21% stated these attacks were worse in
winter The majority claimed that head colds often
triggered off their attacks although anxiety was
listed as the next most common factor Several adults
also mentioned specific allergic factors such as
dusts, pollens, and feathers etc., whereas few of the
children were thus affected
(6) It was noted that 6% of the asthmatic children had
attended the Child Guidance Clinic compared with 9%
of the bronchitics and 2% of the control children
(7) Just over 4½ times as many asthmatic adults were
using some form of inhaler compared with the children
attending the clinic.
(8) On a superficial examination, the results of intelli
gence tests on a group of asthmatic children compared
with matched group of non-asthmatic children appeared
to show little difference Hitherto, it was popularly
believed that asthmatic children were on average more
intelligent than the non-asthmatics It was, however,
noted from the school attendance records of the above