September asthma peak hits Alberta with kids back in school

Alberta's emergency rooms and urgent care centres have been busy treating kids and teenswith asthma-related problems during the month of September and doctors expect additional peaks during the fall and winter.

Numbers provided by Alberta Health Services show there were 994asthma-related pediatric visitsduring the first three weeks of September.

Those numbers appear similar to last year when there were 1,171 visits for the entire month and on par with pre-pandemic levels.

"In September, AHS hospitals and emergency departments, along with those across Canada, typically see a spike in asthma-related ER visits and hospitalizations among children," AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said in an email.

"This increase is primarily due to the common cold, which triggers approximately 65 per cent of asthma attacks."

AHS did not provide the number of asthma visits that occur at other times of the year.

Asthma-related ERand urgent care visits (under the age of 18)for the month of September:

• 2024: 994 (includes Sept 1 - 24)
• 2023: 1,171
• 2022: 1,767
• 2021: 695
• 2020: 274
• 2019: 1,252
• 2018: 979

"Almost every September, we see an increase in the number of asthma visits in children across the age spectrum, particularly in school-aged children," saidDr. Stephen Freedman,a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

"It typically is triggered by viral illness which we start to see again when kids start going back to school and they're often indoors. And it also coincides with ... early emergence of theviral season."

According to Freedman, there was an unusually high number of asthma-related visits two years ago.

"They're in keeping with prior years with the exception of fall of 2022 when we saw a very significant and dramatic resurgence in viral illness following several years of reductions due to the isolation and public health precautions during the COVID pandemic," he said.

According to AHS,a number of factors contribute to this rise, including returning to the classroom where there is close contact with others, sharing drinks and snacks, temperature changes, environmental allergens, mould and the circulation of viruses.

What parents can do

Dr. Sam Wong, who works at Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, sees an upswing in asthma-related hospital visits every year at this time.

"Most kids with asthma will come in with some wheezing or shortness of breath. They have difficulty breathing," said Wong, president of the Alberta Medical Association's section of pediatrics.

"They're usually known asthmatics, so parents have usually tried medications at home. And they'll show up in emergency and they'll need more medications. And sometimes they need oxygen. And if it's more severe, then they'll need continued oxygen and admission to hospital with continued administration of medications."

• Wondering about Alberta's plans for flu and COVID-19 shots? You're not alone

• Alberta health-care workers say they're demoralized, exhausted as patient surge looms this fall

According to Wong, oral steroids can be administered. In severe cases, IV steriods can be given.

Preventing asthma exacerbations can be difficult, he said, butit helps to ensure kids are taking the medications recommended by their health care provider.

"If they're on inhaled steroids, they should be taking it regularly. If they are supposed to be on it, and they weren't on it over the summer time, maybe the should go back on it. And then, use the emergency medication the Ventolin[inhaler] as needed."

Freedman said another key step is to avoid asthma triggers.

"Trying to prevent that through ... hand hygiene, good hand washing, avoiding being in close contact with other individuals who have a runny nose, cough, fever," he said.

"And obviously when children are sick they shouldn't be going to school or daycare."

Both doctors are urging parents to get their children immunized against influenza and COVID-19 this fall, regardless of whether they have asthma or not.

"I highly recommend the influenza and COVID vaccination," said Wong.

"That would one way of preventing illness, getting the COVID vaccination, and the uptake is not great which is unfortunate"