Synopsis

Wheezing in childhood is extremely common, nearly 50% of children experience at least one episode of wheezing before the age of 6 years and wheeze is one of the commonest health problems requiring medical care. Children aged between 1-5 years account for 75% of these admissions with the median age of admission for acute attacks of wheeze being 3 years. Over 3000 children with wheeze present each year to the emergency department of the Royal Children’s Hospital and over 1000 of these children are admitted. This situation has not improved over the past decade. This demonstrates our ability to prevent wheeze, and our current strategies of management in preschool children are not very effective.

In this Grand Round we will describe the enormous problem of wheeze and how a “Preschool Wheeze Flagship” will draw together the considerable expertise on the Melbourne Children’s Campus to try to address this problem and benefit children not only in Victoria but also worldwide.

Speakers

Professor Sarath Ranganathan 

Dr Melanie Neeland 

Dr Katherine Chen 

Dr Sarah McNabb 

Dr Danielle Wurzel 

Dr Katherine Frayman 

Professor Jim Buttery 

Professor Peter Vuillermin