ABSTRACT
Childhood asthma is a major clinical public health problem that presents a huge burden on families and societies. While the scope of modifying genetic influence is still limited, attention has focused on factors that might be amenable to intervention. This study aimed at describing the general profile asthma in Kuwaiti children 2-14 years old attending primary health care centers and identifying factors associated with the disease. The study design was a cross-sectional case-control one that was carried in three primary health care centers including 120 children with asthma 2-14 years old as cases and 120 controls in the same age groups. Personal, clinical and socio-economic data were collected. Initially data were analyzed using univariate analysis. Potentially associated factors with asthma were then detected using multiple logistic regression analysis. Male gender [OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.1-2.1], parental asthma [OR = 7.4, 95% CI: 3.9 - 13.8], parental smoking [OR = 2.9, 95% CI: 1.5 - 5.4] and contact with house pets [OR = 4.9, 95% CI: 1.6 - 14.9] were significantly associated with asthma, Low birth weight was inversely associated with the risk of asthma in children [OR = 0.5, 95%: 0.3 -0.8] The study raised the importance of environmental control especially of indoor smoking and keeping pets. Also, it underlined the importance of screening process for the susceptible group of children as low birth males with family history of asthma