Abstract
PurposeAsthma is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and information on the prevalence of asthma in Nigeria is inconsistent. Nationally representative data, important for health planning is unavailable. We aimed to determine the current prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Nigeria.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional population survey conducted between June 2017 and March 2018 across five cities representing five geo-political zones in Nigeria. Validated screening questionnaires were used to identify persons with asthma and allergic rhinitis respectively. Asthma was defined as physician diagnosed asthma, clinical asthma and by presence of wheeze in the last 12 months respectively. Socio-demographic information, tobacco smoking, sources of household cooking fuel were also obtained.ResultsA total of 20063 participants from 6024 households were screened. The prevalence (95% confidence interval) of physician diagnosed asthma, clinical asthma and wheeze was 2.5% (2.3–2.7%), 6.4% (6.0–6.64%) and 9.0% (8.6–9.4%) respectively. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 22.8% (22.2–23.4%). The prevalence of asthma and rhinitis increased with age (prevalence of clinical asthma: 3.1% (2.8–3.4%), 9.8% (9.1–10.5) and 10.7% (9.4%-12.0) among 6–17 years, 18–45 years and >45 years respectively). Prevalence also varied across different cities with the highest prevalence of clinical asthma occurring in Lagos (8.0%) and the lowest in Ilorin (1.1%). The frequency of allergic rhinitis among persons with clinical asthma was 74.7%. Presence of allergic rhinitis, family history of asthma, current smoking and being overweight were independent determinants of current asthma among adults.ConclusionThe prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Nigeria is high with variabilities across regions and age groups. The number of persons with clinical asthma in Nigeria (approximately 13 million) is likely to rank among the highest in Africa. This warrants prioritization by stakeholders and policy makers to actively implement risk reduction measures and increase investment in capacity building for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma and allergic rhinitis.
Highlights
Asthma is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, ranking high as a cause of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2015 [1]
Urbanization has led to increased income, adoption of the Western diet and lifestyle, decline in childhood infections, atopic sensitization and increase in air pollution which are associated with developing asthma [4,5,6,7]
Operational definitions for asthma were similar to those used in the World Health Survey (WHS) for asthma prevalence [27], but we considered the use of asthma medication within 12 months
Summary
Asthma is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, ranking high as a cause of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2015 [1]. The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) project estimates that the prevalence of asthma increased by about 12% globally between 2005 and 2015, mostly in developing countries [2,3]. Economic development and urbanization in many parts of Africa for example are likely to contribute to the upsurge in the prevalence of asthma in this region. Derivation of overall asthma burden combines information from direct enumeration of a representative population with data related to morbidity and mortality. Further availability of broad-based and representative prevalence data is desirable to more accurately estimate the burden of asthma, to guide future projections, health service planning, allocation of resources and to inform policy
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