Clinical features of airway malacia in children: a retrospective analysis of 459 patients

Aim: To investigate the clinical features of airway malacia in children. Material and methods: A comprehensive analysis was done on information of 459 young patients with airway malacia. Results: Number of children with tracheomalacia, tracheobronchomalacia, and bronchomalacia was 7 (1.5%), 17 (3.7%), and 435 (94.8%), respectively. Incidence of bronchomalacia in left lung was 11.0% (n=48), while that of right lung was 53.3% (n=232). Meanwhile, bronchomalacia of both lungs were noticed in 155 children (35.6%). With regards to the extent of malacia, number of children with slight, moderate and severe malacia was 226, 195, and 38, respectively. All the children enrolled in this study were diagnosed with pulmonary infection, among which 376 were diagnosed with ordinary pneumonia, 83 were diagnosed with severe pneumonia. 227 children showed a disease course of less than 1 month, while 201 children reported a disease course of 1 similar to 3 months, and 31 children reported a disease course of more than 3 months. Statistical difference was noticed in the disease condition of respiratory tract infection of patients with various malacia extent (P < 0.05). Re-check of fiberoptic bronchoscopy was performed in 19 patients, among which 14 patients (73.7%) showed improvement compared with the previous conditions. Conclusion: Airway malacia has been frequently noticed in male children aged <= 2 years old. Patients with severe airway malacia were apt to develop severe pneumonia compared with those with slight or moderate malacia. Improvements or even elimination of malacia were noticed with the aging of the children and the anti-infection therapy.