The Infant with Stridor

It is a tendency of specialists in any field to examine all phenomena exclusively with the instruments of their own speciality. Infantile stridor has been a perquisite of laryngologists for so long that it is not surprising to find the many descriptions of it devoted largely to laryngeal factors. A great deal of attention has been paid to the larynx but very little to the infant. As a result, information regarding associated conditions, complications and sequelae, prognosis and mortality has been neglected. This paper records follow-up observations on 80 infants who had stridor. The sole criterion for inclusion was the occurrence of sustained stridor in early infancy. The data include observations on stridor itself, on the infants who presented with it, and on the mechanism and aetiology of its production.