Study of prevalence of bronchial asthma in school children of 6–12 years of age in rural schools of Tumakuru district

Abstract

Context: Pediatric asthma is a serious global health problem. The recent rise in the prevalence of asthma was associated with environmental pollution, urbanization, and the change in demography. Aims: The present study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of asthma in school children of rural parts of Tumakuru district and to study its association with different epidemiological factors. Settings And Design: This study is a questionnaire-based study (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood-Questionnaire) carried out in four randomly selected rural schools of Tumakuru district. Subjects And Methods: The questionnaire was distributed to all the children (n = 1750) and asked to fill the questionnaire with the help of their parents. These questionnaires were given standard scores to diagnose asthma. Other epidemiological factors were also recorded in the questionnaire and studied. Statistical Analysis Used: The statistical analysis was done using MSTAT software. Chi-square test was used to get the P value. P Results: The prevalence of asthma in our study was 3.12% (n = 51). Boys had a slightly higher prevalence 3.36% (n = 32) than girls 2.8% (n = 19). We found 58.8% (n = 30) of these asthmatics had allergic rhinitis and 19.6% (n = 10) had a history of atopy. Overall prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 8.3% (n = 137) and atopy was 1.13% (n = 23). Conclusions: The study showed 3.12% of children are affected with asthma, and its prevalence is significantly associated with epidemiological factors such as family history of allergy, high socioeconomic status, and use of fire wood for cooking.