Effects of a General Osteopathic treatment on asthmatic children

Aim. Up to 10 % of population suffer from asthma. Asthma often means managing a treatment with limited action on a daily basis. The study aim was to assess the impact of a General Osteopathic treatment (GOT) on the respiratory function in asthmatic children.Method. 15 asthmatic subjects, aged 4 to 15, diagnosed by an allergologist, received one GOT session. Objective results were obtained through a bodyplethysmography measure before and after treatment. Variables observed were: Tiffeneau′s coefficient, mean expiratory fl ow from small bronchial tubes, bronchial resistances and residual capacity.Results. Comparison between result before and after treatment showed a significant improvement of all measures after the GOT.Conclusions. On a short term basis, a session of GOT allows to asthmatic child to improve its lung capacity. Including Osteopathy in the pluridisciplinary care of asthmatic children appears to be relevant.

Asthma and Obesity in Children

Asthma and obesity are two major chronic diseases in children and adolescents. Recent scientific evidence points out a causative role of obesity in asthma predisposition. However, studies assessing the real impact of excessive weight gain on lung function in children have shown heterogeneous results. In this review, the pathological mechanisms linking obesity and development of asthma in children are summarized and factors influencing this relationship are evaluated. Common disease modifying factors including age, sex, ethnicity, development of atopic conditions, and metabolic alterations significantly affect the onset and phenotypic characteristics of asthma. Given this, the impact of these several factors on the obesity–asthma link were considered, and from revision of the literature we suggest the possibility to define three main clinical subtypes on the basis of epidemiological data and physiological–molecular pathways: obese-asthmatic and atopy, obese-asthmatic and insulin-resistance, and obese-asthmatic and dyslipidemia. The hypothesis of the different clinical subtypes characterizing a unique phenotype might have an important impact for both future clinical management and research priorities. This might imply the necessity to study the obese asthmatic child with a “multidisciplinary approach”, evaluating the endocrinological and pneumological aspects simultaneously. This different approach might also make it possible to intervene earlier in a specific manner, possibly with a personalized and tailored treatment. Surely this hypothesis needs longitudinal and well-conducted future studies to be validated.

The impact of physical activity to the child’s quality of life: a bibliometric study

Background: The application of bibliometrics in healthcare research is becoming popular, however at present it is still an under-researched area. Methods: In our study we used a bibliometric technique called bibliometric mapping to visualize the published research regarding the influence of physical activity to children’s quality of life. The research was visualized in the form of both chronological and cluster science landscapes. Science landscapes, contrary to conventional reviews, capture the relationships between multiple topics and concepts, enabling the generation of “synthetic reviews”. Results: Evolutionarily, three distinct research phases appeared, namely research on influence of physical activity on various chronic non-communicable diseases; research on quality of life and childhood diseases related to physical activity; and outcome-related research. The research consists of six main topics: asthmatic child and exercising, blood diseases, health-related quality of life, obesity and chronic diseases, childhood obesity and behaviour, and depression and health outcomes. Conclusions: The study identified some research that may be helpful to general paediatricians whose everyday practice or research is not focused on physical activity and child’s quality of life, but wants to learn about the taxonomy of the topics, the most interesting discoveries, guidelines and practices and the state of the art in the field. It also revealed some hidden association, otherwise not easily identified, even by informed researchers and clinicians.