Physical signs in childhood asthma.

In 62 children with bronchial asthma, the presence of subjective dyspnea and wheeze, and some physical signs commonly associated with chronic obstructive airway disease in older patients, were compared with results of routine pulmonary function tests. Overall, airway resistance and the relationships of residual volume and functiona residual capacity to total lung capacity were increased and other measurements of pulmonary function were moderately decreased. The time-honored subjective dyspnea, wheeze, rhonchi, and prolonged expiration were least useful as indices of severity of disease. Most of the patients, particularly those in whom laboratory testing revealed marked impairment, had notable rhonchi, prolonged expiration, scalene muscle and sternocleidomastoid contraction, and supraclavicular indrawing. Only sternocleidomastoid contraction and supraclavicular indrawing clearly correlated with the severity of airway obstruction. A call is made for a search for these useful signs, whose presence may be the only clue to moderately severe disease; however, their absence does not guarantee absence of severe airway obstruction.