CHILDREN'S HEALTH Asthma often not reported

Many kids say they're doing well despite recent symptoms.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Children with asthma often have much more difficulty with the condition than their parents think, leaving them dangerously under treated, a national survey released Wednesday shows.
The survey found that while 78 percent of parents or caregivers of children with asthma felt the youngster's condition was "well" or "completely"controlled,thereported symptoms of the children showed most are not meeting national treatment standards.
While children whose asthma is controlled are not supposed to cough, wheeze or suffer shortness of breath during the day or night, 67 percent of them experienced those symptomswithinthepastfour weeks of the spring survey.
Controlled asthma is not supposed to limit daily activities or make children miss school, but 54 percent had missed an average of four school days in the past year because of asthma and 62 percent said asthma caused them to limit activities "a lot or some."
Children whose asthma is controlled shouldn't have to seek emergency medical care, but 23 percent in the survey had been to an emergency room at least once in the past year because of asthma and 42 percent had made unscheduled trips to their doctor or clinic.
'Disturbing'
"These are disturbing findings, especially since asthma is a highly controllable disease," said Dr. William Sears, a San Clemente, Calif., pediatrician who has written 32 books on child-care issues. "We need to help parents recognize that proper asthma control means children are symptom-free all or most of the time."
"It's all too human for both children and their caregivers to want to deny illness," said Dr. Norman Edelman, medical consultant to the American Lung Association, one of 22 national organizations that form Asthma Action America, the sponsor of the survey.
"Kids tell their parents 'I'm doing OK,' but the parent doesn't know what OK is, and the child doesn't want to complain too much and be kept from doing things," added Edelman, also a professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Stoneybrook.
The survey involved 801 parents of children with asthma, or the children themselves if they were 16 or older, and also matched 300 sets of parent-child interviews about symptoms and treatment.