Abstract
Rationale The objective was to evaluate if asthma occurs more frequently in children living in homes with a greater degree of cockroach infestation Methods Cross-sectional study in children with good socioeconomic status 4 to 12-year old having resided in the domicile for more than 2 years. Exposed were considered those children that lived in houses where it was found more than 6 dead insects after pesticide application. Analysis was done as for a case-control study. Asthma diagnosis in children living in the houses was made through a telephone questionnaire based on the ISAAC study. The evaluation of infestation intensity was done through the direct counting of dead insects after professional application of pesticide in the residences. Results In 172 houses (there were 9 refusals to participate) 79 children were considered exposed to cockroaches and 93 not. Asthma was diagnosed in 31,6% (25/79) of the exposed group and in 11,8 (11/93) of the non-exposed group (p=0.001), prevalence ratio 3,45 (95% CI, 1,48 - 8,20). Conclusions Our results suggest that cockroach exposure was significantly associated to asthma among the patients in this study and can be considered a risk factor for the illness.
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