Prevalence of bronchial asthma in rural indian children: A cross sectional study from south India.

ABSTRACT

Objective. To determine the prevalence and to study the socio-demographic correlates of bronchial asthma among children aged 6-15 yr in the rural field practice area of the department of Community Medicine at KMC, Manipal. Methods. This is a cross sectional community based study conducted by interviewing the parents of randomly selected 559 children in the age group of 6 – 15 yr using an International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. Results. The prevalence of bronchial asthma was found to be 10.3%. The prevalence of asthma was higher among boys (12.1%). There was a significant inverse linear trend with increasing age. A statistically significant association of bronchial asthma with family history of asthma was also observed. There was no association of bronchial asthma with socioeconomic status or parents' literacy level. Conclusion. There is a high prevalence of bronchial asthma among children with a higher prevalence among boys. There were significant inverse linear association with increasing age and also with family history of asthma.