Trends in asthma prevalence and its symptoms in Mexican late adolescents over a 7-year period

Abstract

Background: Late adolescents with asthma are rarely studied, since generally they are not included in children or adult groups; in addition, studies assessing asthma trends are scarce in Mexico, and their results might diff er from findings in developed countries. Objective: To determine the trends in asthma prevalence and its symptoms in late adolescents over a period of 7 years. Methods: The prevalence of asthma and its symptoms were compared in two cross-sectional population-based cohorts, one from 2009 and the other from 2016. Results: The presence of wheezing sometime in life and during the previous year was significantly increased between 2009 and 2016 (12.8 % versus 20.1 % and 7.3 % versus 10.3 %, p < 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). The prevalence of asthma went from 7.8 % in 2009 to 12.7 % in 2016 (p < 0.0001). In addition, the prevalence of allergic rhinitis (4.5 % versus 9.0 %) and atopic dermatitis (3.8 % versus 5.2 %) also showed marked increases (p < 0.0001 and 0.051, respectively). Conclusions: The prevalence of asthma and some of its symptoms in late adolescents substantially increased in a 7-year period.