Bronchial hyperreactivity after infantile obstructive bronchitis.

A follow-up study was performed on 406 patients treated for infantile obstructive bronchitis during the period between 1964 and 1973. Their mean age was 12.6 years at the time of the study. The male: female ratio was 1.7. Forty-three patients (11%) became asthmatic within 10 years after onset of the wheezy episode of infancy. In one-third of the 363 non-asthmatic children, bronchial hyperreactivity was shown by acetylcholine and histamine provocation. There was a significant correlation between the number of recurrent obstructive episodes and the length of the period of recurrent wheezing on the one hand and bronchial hyperreactivity on the other hand.