1 research outputs found
Prevalence of asthma in urban and rural children in Tamil Nadu
Background. There are very few community-based studies
on the prevalence of asthma in Indian children. We aimed to
estimate the prevalence of asthma in children under 12 years of
age and to study possible differences in the prevalence of
childhood asthma in urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu.
Methods. A total of 584 children from Chennai and 271
children from 25 villages around Chennai formed the urban and
rural groups, respectively. From November 1999 to February
2000, data were collected using a simplified version of the
ISAAC questionnaire, which was administered by trained students.
Symptoms suggestive of asthma or hyperreactive airways
disease in children under 12 years of age were recorded from the
selected urban and rural populations by questioning the parents.
The results were analysed separately for children 0-5 and 6-12
years of age.
Results. Of the 855 children studied, the overall prevalence
of breathing difficulty (including asthma) was 18% and the
prevalence of ‘diagnosed’ asthma was 5%. Twenty-two per cent of urban and 9% of rural children 6-12 years of age reported
breathing difficulty ‘at any time in the past’ (p<0.01). A
significantly higher proportion of 6-12-year-old urban children
also reported nocturnal dry cough (28.4%v. 18.7%,p<0.05).
Urban children reported recent wheeze more often than rural
children (92% v. 77%, p=0.01).
Conclusions. Symptoms suggestive of asthma were present
in 18% of children under 12 years of age. Though the
prevalence of diagnosed childhood asthma was about 5% in both
urban and rural areas, the prevalence of ‘breathing difficulty’ and
nocturnal cough was significantly higher among urban children in
the age group of 6-12 years. Children living in urban areas also
reported ‘recent wheeze’ more often than rural children. Our
data suggest that the actual prevalence of asthma and other
‘wheezy’ illnesses may be higher than that previously documented.
Further studies are needed to confirm the difference in
prevalence between urban and rural children and also to identify
possible causes that could account for the higher urban prevalence
of asthma in Tamil Nadu