Prevalence of asthma and comorbid allergy symptoms in Singaporean preschoolers.

The cross-sectional prevalence of wheeze, rhinitis and eczema in 7,549 randomly selected Singaporean preschoolers aged 4 to 6 years old is reported in this study. Cumulative and past 12 months ('current') prevalence of wheeze was 27.5% and 16.0%, respectively. 'Asthma' was reported by 11.7%. Current rhinitis prevalence was 25.3% and rhinoconjunctivitis, 7.6%. Current chronic rash affected 13.5% of subjects while 9.9% reported chronic rash with flexural distribution. After multivariate analysis, the main risk factors for 'current wheeze' and self-reported asthma, respectively, were family history of allergy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.22 [2.79-3.71], aOR 3.93 [3.34-4.63]); concurrent rhinoconjunctivitis (aOR 4.04 [3.31-4.92], aOR 3.02 [2.43-3.76]); concurrent chronic flexural rash (aOR 2.56 [2.13-3.08], aOR 2.95 [2.41-3.62]) and previous respiratory infection (aOR 4.80 [4.17-5.53], aOR 3.28 [2.80-3.85]). Thus, these allergy-associated symptoms already affect a considerable portion of children by the preschool years, supporting the need for allergy education and intervention program in this age group.

An evaluation of asthma morbidity in Singaporean schoolchildren--a teachers' survey.

Asthma is the most common chronic illness in childhood. This study evaluated the asthma morbidity among Singaporean schoolchildren. The survey involved 1,744 schoolteachers using a structured written questionnaire. 73.4% of class teachers reported at least 1 asthmatic student in their class. 37.1% of teachers had students absent from school for up to 3 days per month and 5.1% missed school for 4 to 14 days in a month. 87.4% of the physical education (PE) teachers reported at least 1 asthmatic student in their class. 65.2% reported an average of 1-3 students sitting out at each PE lesson and 15.1% reported students who were exempted from PE for more than 3 months in a year due to asthma. The morbidity of asthma in Singaporean schoolchildren in terms of school absenteeism and exemption from PE classes is substantial. The data supports a need to improve asthma control amongst our schoolchildren.