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Apparent life-threatening event in infancy

An apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) is defined as the combination of clinical presentations such as apnea, marked change in skin and muscle tone, gagging, or choking. It is a frightening event, and it predominantly occurs during infancy at a mean age of 1–3 months. The causes of ALTE are categ...

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Autores principales: Choi, Hee Joung, Kim, Yeo Hyang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Pediatric Society 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5052132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27721838
http://dx.doi.org/10.3345/kjp.2016.59.9.347
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author Choi, Hee Joung
Kim, Yeo Hyang
author_facet Choi, Hee Joung
Kim, Yeo Hyang
author_sort Choi, Hee Joung
collection PubMed
description An apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) is defined as the combination of clinical presentations such as apnea, marked change in skin and muscle tone, gagging, or choking. It is a frightening event, and it predominantly occurs during infancy at a mean age of 1–3 months. The causes of ALTE are categorized into problems that are: gastrointestinal (50%), neurological (30%), respiratory (20%), cardiovascular (5%), metabolic and endocrine (2%–5%), or others such as child abuse. Up to 50% of ALTEs are idiopathic, where the cause cannot be diagnosed. Infants with an ALTE are often asymptomatic at hospital and there is no standard workup protocol for ALTE. Therefore, a detailed initial history and physical examination are important to determine the extent of the medical evaluation and treatment. Regardless of the cause of an ALTE, all infants with an ALTE should require hospitalization and continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring and evaluation for at least 24 hours. The natural course of ALTEs has seemed benign, and the outcome is generally associated with the affected infants' underlying disease. In conclusion, systemic diagnostic evaluation and adequate treatment increases the survival and quality of life for most affected infants.
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spelling pubmed-50521322016-10-07 Apparent life-threatening event in infancy Choi, Hee Joung Kim, Yeo Hyang Korean J Pediatr Review Article An apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) is defined as the combination of clinical presentations such as apnea, marked change in skin and muscle tone, gagging, or choking. It is a frightening event, and it predominantly occurs during infancy at a mean age of 1–3 months. The causes of ALTE are categorized into problems that are: gastrointestinal (50%), neurological (30%), respiratory (20%), cardiovascular (5%), metabolic and endocrine (2%–5%), or others such as child abuse. Up to 50% of ALTEs are idiopathic, where the cause cannot be diagnosed. Infants with an ALTE are often asymptomatic at hospital and there is no standard workup protocol for ALTE. Therefore, a detailed initial history and physical examination are important to determine the extent of the medical evaluation and treatment. Regardless of the cause of an ALTE, all infants with an ALTE should require hospitalization and continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring and evaluation for at least 24 hours. The natural course of ALTEs has seemed benign, and the outcome is generally associated with the affected infants' underlying disease. In conclusion, systemic diagnostic evaluation and adequate treatment increases the survival and quality of life for most affected infants. The Korean Pediatric Society 2016-09 2016-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5052132/ /pubmed/27721838 http://dx.doi.org/10.3345/kjp.2016.59.9.347 Text en Copyright © 2016 by The Korean Pediatric Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Choi, Hee Joung
Kim, Yeo Hyang
Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title_full Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title_fullStr Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title_full_unstemmed Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title_short Apparent life-threatening event in infancy
title_sort apparent life-threatening event in infancy
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5052132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27721838
http://dx.doi.org/10.3345/kjp.2016.59.9.347
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