Prevalence of asthma in high school adolescents of isfahan

Abstract EN

When developing countries adopt and industrialized style of living an increase in asthma prevalence can be expected.

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of asthma, related symptoms and clinical findings in high school adolescents of Isfahan, Iran. A randomly selected population of Isfahan high-school pupils, consisting of 3,930 adolescents aged 15 to 18 was enrolled in this study.

The students completed a Persian questionnaire as a modified form from ISAAC and ECRHS questionnaires.

The returned 3,668 (93.3%) questionnaires were reviewed and 623 pupils suffering asthma or any history of intermittent dyspnea and/ or wheezy breathing were invited for further evaluations.

In this stage, 519 pupils (82.9%) underwent medical interview and physical examination.

In this study, 289 students (45%) underwent post-exercise spirometry. A previous diagnosis of asthma was recorded in 1.2% of the population.

The prevalence rates for confirmed history of dyspnea and wheezing attacks (actual asthma) ever in life, asthma attacks in the last 12 months, and frequently recurring asthmatic attacks were 14.8%, 3.5% and 2.2% respectively.

Wheezing was heard on auscultation of the chests of 53 students (10.2%).

FEV1<80% of prediction was recorded in 6.2% of the stage two participants, other findings included reduced PEF, FEF 25-75, FEF75 in 21.8%, 8.6%, 31.1 of the pupils respectively.

We conclude that asthma screening programs employing clinical methods should be encouraged to compensate for frequently encountered biases observed in the studies based on self-administered questionnaires.