Prevalence and incidence of asthma related to waist circumference and BMI in a Swedish community sample

AbstractBoth asthma and obesity have become more common in affluent societies during the recent decades and several studies have shown a correlation between the presence of asthma and obesity.In order to further study this association we have investigated a population from a community in southern Sweden, where almost all inhabitants had their body indices measured as part of a study on diabetes at a primary care centre. An asthma unit working with a structured care programme for asthma was available. This organisation enabled us to study whether body mass index and waist circumference was associated with having or developing asthma.There was a significant association between both overweight, increased waist circumference and asthma, P<0.01. The risk for developing asthma was associated with increased body weight and abdominal circumference, P<0.05. The increase in asthma morbidity in the overweight subjects was found almost exclusively in the non-atopic asthma patients.This study confirms earlier findings of an increased prevalence of asthma in obese and overweight patients. Increased obesity and especially abdominal obesity is thus a risk factor for asthma, which probably contributes to the high prevalence of asthma in affluent societies

Why are some children with early onset of asthma getting better over the years? - Diagnostic failure or salutogenetic factors

Among children earlier having been identified with a hospital or primary care diagnosis of asthma at least once between 0-7 years of age, almost 40 % of their parents reported in the ISAAC-questionnaire as never having had asthma (NA). These are further analysed and compared with the persisting asthma cases (A) in this study. All these children's medical records were scrutinized concerning their asthma diagnose retrospectively

Clinically diagnosed childhood asthma and follow-up of symptoms in a Swedish case control study

BACKGROUND: Childhood asthma has risen dramatically not only in the western societies and now forms a major and still increasing public health problem. The aims of this study were to follow up at the age of ten the patterns of asthma symptoms and associations among children with a clinically diagnosed asthma in a sizeable urban-rural community and to in compare them with demographic controls using a standardised questionnaire. METHODS: In a defined region in Sweden with a population of about 150 000 inhabitants, all children (n = 2 104) born in 1990 were recorded. At the age of seven all primary care and hospital records of the 1 752 children still living in the community were examined, and a group of children (n = 191) was defined with a well-documented and medically confirmed asthma diagnosis. At the age of ten, 86 % of these cases (n = 158) and controls (n = 171) completed an ISAAC questionnaire concerning asthma history, symptoms and related conditions. RESULTS: Different types of asthma symptoms were highly and significantly over-represented in the cases. Reported asthma heredity was significantly higher among the cases. No significant difference in reported allergic rhinitis or eczema as a child was found between cases and controls. No significant difference concerning social factors or environmental exposure was found between case and controls. Among the control group 4.7 % of the parents reported that their child actually had asthma. These are likely to be new asthma cases between the age of seven and ten and give an estimated asthma prevalence rate at the age of ten of 15.1 % in the studied cohort. CONCLUSION: A combination of medical verified asthma diagnosis through medical records and the use of self-reported symptom through the ISAAC questionnaire seem to be valid and reliable measures to follow-up childhood asthma in the local community. The asthma prevalence at the age of ten in the studied birth cohort is considerably higher than previous reports for Sweden. Both the high prevalence figure and allowing the three-year lag phase for further settling of events in the community point at the complementary roles of both hospital and primary care in the comprehensive coverage and control of childhood asthma in the community

MEASLES MORTALITY AND MALNUTRITION IN RWANDA

SCOPUS: le.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Asthma heredity, cord blood IgE and asthma-related symptoms and medication in adulthood: a long-term follow-up in a Swedish birth cohort

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS This thesis is based on the following four papers, which will be referred to in the text by their Roman numerals