Pathophysiology of Croup Essay

Posted: November 17th, 2022

Pathophysiology of Croup Essay

Kevin is a 6-year-old boy who is brought in for evaluation by his parents. The parents are concerned that he has a really deep cough that he just can’t seem to get over. The history reveals that he was in his usual state of good health until approximately 1 week ago when he developed a profound cough. His parents say that it is deep and sounds like he is barking. He coughs so hard that sometimes he actually vomits. The cough is productive for mucus, but there is no blood in it. Kevin has had a low-grade temperature but nothing really high. His parents do not have a thermometer and don’t know for sure how high it got. His past medical history is negative. He has never had childhood asthma or RSV. His mother says that they moved around a lot in his first 2 years and she is not sure that his immunizations are up to date. Pathophysiology of Croup Essay. She does not have a current vaccination record. To Prepare Review the three scenarios, as well as Chapter 27 and Chapter 28 in the Huether and McCance text. Select one of the scenarios and consider the respiratory disorder and underlying alteration associated with the type of cough described. Identify the pathophysiology of the alteration that you associated with the cough. Select two of the following factors: genetics, gender, ethnicity, age, or behavior. Reflect on how the factors you selected might impact the disorder. Post a description of the disorder and underlying respiratory alteration associated with the type of cough in your selected scenario. Then, explain the pathophysiology of the respiratory alteration. Finally, explain how the factors you selected might impact the disorder. Pathophysiology of Croup Essay

Discussion Week 6

The type of the respiratory disorder and underlying alteration allied to a cough in the case study is croup. Croup is an upper respiratory tract infection caused by a virus and causes inflammation of the mucosa between the trachea and the nose (Ortiz-Alvarez, 2017). Croup is typified by sudden onset of inspiratory stridor, barking cough, respiratory distress and hoarse voice (Ortiz-Alvarez, 2017).

Pathophysiology of Croup

The viral infection starts within the nasopharynx. The infection then spreads to the trachea and larynx’s respiratory epithelium. Erythema, diffuse inflammation and edema occur within the trachea walls and swelling occurs. The swelling causes impairment to the vocal cords. The edema limits airflow in the airway of the child by narrowing the airway(Bjornson& Johnson, 2013). The narrowed airway causes increased breathing work, as well as the audible noisy airflow called stridor and the swelling of the vocal cords that causes the hoarse voice manifest in the 6-year-old boy in the case study. The typical barking cough results from the impairment of the movement of the vocal cords (Bjornson& Johnson, 2013). Pathophysiology of Croup Essay

ORDER A PLAGIARISM- FREE PAPER NOW

Impact of Gender and Age on Croup

Gender and age influence the development of the crop. Evidence indicates that being a male is a risk factor to croup and thus males are more susceptible to croup than females. According to Muenchhoff& Philip (2014), the male: female incidence ratio of croup is 1.43:1 in children less than six months and 1.73:1 in children aged between six to twelve months. The effect of sex hormones on the T-helper 1/T-helper 2 cytokine stability has been attributed to increased severity of infections such as croup in males (Muenchhoff& Philip, 2014). Age is also a factor in the development of croup. Croup is common in children, especially children below 5 years of age. Higher incidence of croup in children can be attributed to weak immunity for children and this makes children more susceptible to infections ((Ortiz-Alvarez, 2017). Pathophysiology of Croup Essay

References

Bjornson C & Johnson D. (2013).Croup in children.CMAJ. 185(15), 1317–1323.

Muenchhoff M & Philip G. (2014).Sex Differences in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.J Infect Dis. 209(3), S120–S126.

Ortiz-Alvarez O. (2017). Acute management of croup in the emergency department.Paediatrics& Child Health. 22(3), 166–169. Pathophysiology of Croup Essay