Assessment of children with acute dyspnea in the emergency room

The medical part of the activity in the emergency units increased and has b een ascribed to the raised number of infants or children admitted for acute dyspnea. This review is based on the published reports and the experience from the paediatric emergency unit from the Rouen area with 450 000 inhabit ants, in France. We put forward the known epidemiological data and discusse d the available means for the practitioner which could help him in the deci sion to hospitalise. This review suggests that algorithms of treatment and severity evaluations must be set up in paediatric emergency units in order to validate them and specify the children who requires hospitalisation. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.