If you are parents of young children, you have probably had to make use of infant masks for inhalers. And, according to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, approximately 30% of children under three years have presented at least one episode of wheezing, for which they are prescribed inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators.
But just as an adult has the facility to inhale these drugs, this is not the case with infants and young children. The masks that make them inhale correctly are suitable for them. And not just any mask. They are not cheap, therefore Pediatricians request that masks for asthmatic children be funded by the Health Services.
These inhalation devices constitute the basis of pharmacological management of childhood asthma, the most common chronic disease in children, its use being essential. On the other hand, if the appropriate ones are not used, there are important derived costs, since they will not have an effect on children, and their condition may worsen.
Therefore, pediatricians believe that these devices should be financed and included in prescriptions (both the camera and the mask), and to claim the Respiratory Tract Group of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) has prepared a letter addressed to the different Autonomous Health Services.
And, although most Autonomous Communities only finance cameras without a mask, this system is not suitable for young children. According to several guidelines for the management of childhood asthma, camera and mask inhalation systems are ideal for the administration of drug treatment to children under three who need inhaler treatment.
Even for older children and even for adolescents, it is prescribed in the protocols of care for patients with asthma that are used cameras with a mask for children under four and cameras with nozzle in the elderly of this age.
Despite all this, at present and according to pediatricians, in most Autonomous Communities these pediatric inhalation chambers with a face mask are still not funded.
At home we would have been very good financing inhalation chambers with a mask to administer the medication needed by children with asthma and other respiratory problems. It is also true that a mask can be used as many times as necessary, so it would not be an excessive expense to public coffers, although at the moment it is still restricted in health investment, so we probably have to keep waiting.
Official Site | AEPap
Photo | iStock
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