Relationship between the Clinical Characteristics and Intervention Scores of Infants with Apparent Life-threatening Events

Choi, Hee Joung; Kim, Yeo Hyang

In a review of several studies, Tieder et al. (20) demonstrated that the most frequently evaluated diagnostic tests were for GER, neurologic abnormalities, anemia, infections, toxic ingestions, metabolic disorders, and cardiac dysrhythmias. There was no evidence to recommend routine nonspecific tests such as CBC, serum glucose, or electrolyte levels (20) . On the other hand, Vandenplas et al. (21) suggested that, although GER was considered a major cause of ALTE, routine GER testing is unnecessary in children with ALTE. The incidence of GER is generally high in infancy regardless, and a positive result is not a confirmation of a relationship between GER and ALTE. In our study, 8 patients underwent an upper gastrointestinal study because 4 had been previously diagnosed with GER, 2 had feeding-related ALTE, 1 had a history of esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula, and 1 had recurrent pneumonia. Seven patients showed positive signs of GER (grade I in 2, grade II in 3, grade III in 2), but GER was only confirmed as a cause of ALTE at discharge in 3 patients. In this regard, our results were similar to the previous study.