Acute chest sydrome - Research Paper Example

Basically, the illness is defined as follows: “ACS is the term used to describe a new pulmonary infiltrate with respiratory findings in a person with sickle cell disease.” (Miller, 2011). The causes of Acute Chest Syndrome have been found to be both infectious and noninfectious. Thus causing its treatment modalities to be different and not typical when compared to the treatment of other pulmonary illnesses that might be found in non Sickle Cell patients. Hence the unique nature of Acute Chest Syndrome as a stand alone illness or as part of the Sickle Cell complications.

“2504 febrile events in 466 children with SCD resulted in 466 of the infants acquiring ACS. The incidence of ACS cumulatively decreased over time from 27.0% to 17.4% among febrile children with SCD (P < 0.001), although no change was seen in children younger than 2 years (P = 0.89). Independent predictors of ACS in the post-PCV7 era include history of previous ACS, upper respiratory tract infection symptoms, noncompliance to penicillin, male sex, hypoxemia, an absolute neutrophil count greater than 9 × 10/L, and hemoglobin less than 8.6 g/dL. “ (Chang, Kriengsoontorkij, Chan & Wang, 2013) More commonly seen as a complication among children suffering from CSD, ACS has proven to have a peak incidence among children between 2-4 of age, which accounts for 25.

3 per 100 patients years among children with hemoglobin SS. The epidemiology of the illness also offers evidence that among patients with SCD; “ACS is the second most common cause of hospitalization (second to vasoocclusive pain) with a reported rate of 12.8 hospitalizations per 100 patient years. It is the most common cause of death, with one-fourth of SCD-related deaths due to ACS. In a report from the CSSCD, the death rate in patients with ACS is 1.8 percent in children and 4.3 percent in adults.

”(Uptodate.com, 2014) Among hospitalized patients with SCD, almost half of those confined can be