[Epidemiologic and bronchologic aspects of chronic bronchitis in childhood (author's transl)].

After establishing a suitable definition of chronic and relapsing bronchitis in childhood in the G.D.R. in 1969 corresponding epidemiologic studies carried out in school beginners and school children in Dresden revealed a prevalence rate of 1,64% to 3,06% for this disease. The analysis of bronchologic examinations of 274 children performed at the Pediatric Clinic of the Medical Academy Dresden during the last four years showed a deforming bronchitis as the most frequent finding in the bronchogram of 51% of the patients. Malformations of the tracheobronchial tree could be demonstrated in 16% of the children examined. The frequency of bronchiectases was at a very low level (9%) and showed a regression by the half as compared with former results. The results of bacteriological examinations of the bronchial secretion, quantitative analyses of the immune globulins in the serum and the bronchial secretion and the alpha-1-antitrypsin are discussed as causative factors for chronic and relapsing bronchitis in childhood. For assessing the prognosis of deforming bronchitis 220 children had a bronchologic follow-up examination in four bronchologic centers for children in the G.D.R. after a one or several years' dispensary treatment. An improvement or a normalisation of the findings could be demonstrated by means of the bronchogram in 62% of these patients, whereas a deterioration or a transition to bronchiectases was observed in only 22% of the patients.