Increased prevalence of hospital admissions for asthma in Antigua

ABSTRACT

In the 1980s, the prevalence of asthma increased in developed countries and the purpose of this study was to access trends in asthma morbidity in a small, developing caribbean island nation. A retrospective review of asthma admissions was undertaken at the Holberton Hospital, the only full service medical centre serving this country of 65,000. Asthma was defined clinically as more than one episode of wheezing. Two sources of data were obtained from the admission book on children's Ward (aged below 13 years) from 1987-1995 (admission diagnosis) and the Medical Records (all age groups) from 1992-1995 (discharge diagnosis). There was a 97 percent increase in paediatric admissions for asthma from 59 in 1989 to 116 in 1995. The average number of annual paediatric admission increased from 47 in 1989 to 1992, to 89 in 1993 to 1995 (p = 0.05). Patients with >l admission accounted for 28 percent of admissions (average 6 patients) in the earlier period and 22 percent of admissions (average 8 patients) in the later period (p=NS). Adult asthma increased from 77 cases in 1992 to 168 cases in 1995 (118 percent increase). Similar to developed countries, Antigua has experienced an increase in asthma morbidity. Young children make up the largest part of the increase. Environmental factors associated with a more "Western" lifestyle are probably responsible.(AU)