Prevalence of asthma and the related-symptoms in children and adolescences; a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Asthma is the most important chronic disease in children. The prevalence of this disease was increased in Iran and right across the world. Asthma was considered as a complicated interaction between the environmental stimulants and immunity responses. Numerous factors were recognized as the asthma related-factors. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to evaluate asthma related-factors in Tehran province students. Materials and Methods: The current research was designed as a descriptive-analytic study. The sampling was carried out among the students whose ages ranged from 6 to 7 years old and 13 to 14 years old using the randomly systematic method in Tehran province. The necessary information was collected using the standard ISAAC questionnaire to register the clinical symptoms of asthma. The study data were analyzed using Stata 12 software. Results: A total of 2122 students met inclusion criteria were enrolled in the current study. The mean age and asthma history frequency were estimated as 12.7 +/- 3.4 years and 5.8%, respectively. The prevalence of asthma was calculated as 11.9%. The logistic regression analysis findings indicated a statistically significant correlation between wheezing in relaxation position and post-physical activity and nocturnal hacking in students with age, educational level, place of living and exposing to smoke (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings showed that place of living and exposing to smoke are the most important factors affecting asthma emerge especially in students older than 12 years of age. Paying attention to the aforementioned factors could be proposed as an appropriate approach to prevent asthma.