Abstract
In most asthmatic children, their family circumstances are one of factors which can affect their clinical courses. We analysed 379 first-time visiting outpatients with asthma in 1987 and 1989, and 103 asthmatic chindren who had residential therapy between 1987 and 1989. The incidence of asthmatic children in a single parent family was higher in severe cases of outpatients and residents. Patients with undesirable family circumstances, for example, devorce or separation of parents, neurotic or psychotic patients in the family and so on, had psychological complications such as refusal to go to school, refusal to take their medicine, and psychosomatic disoders in significantly high frequency. Psychotherapy was introduced to these patients with psychological problems in oder to promote their self-reliance, but some of them needed residential therapy for a longer time. It seems that we must care for asthmatic children in problematic family not only with biological and psychological treatment but also with socioeconomical supports.
