Increasing prevalence of wheeze and asthma in Nottingham primary schoolchildren 1988-1995

Abstract

The prevalence of asthma in children has increased substantially in many countries in recent decades, but it is not clear how much this trend has continued into the 1990s. This study aimed to estimate the current prevalence of asthma and wheeze in British primary schoolchildren and to determine whether there has been any increase in the prevalence of these conditions since 1988. The prevalence of self-reported wheeze and asthma was measured by parental questionnaire in 22,968 children aged 4-11 yrs attending primary schools in the Nottingham area of England in 1995, and these estimates were compared with data from a subsample of the same schools in 1988. In 1995, wheezing ever was reported in 24.0% of children, wheezing in the past year in 15.1% and diagnosed asthma symptomatic in the past year in 8.8%. All measures have increased in prevalence since 1988, in absolute terms by 7.7% for wheeze ever, by 2.6% for wheeze in the past year and by 2.7% for asthma. The increases were greater in females than males, but did not vary with age. In conclusion, the prevalence of asthma has continued to rise in British schoolchildren since the late 1980s, particularly in females, and across all ages.

Increasing prevalence of asthma and allergy in Beijing pre-school children: Is exclusive breastfeeding for more than 6 months protective?

“…The present study also found that the gender ratio decreased with age. Decreasing gender ratios have similarly been found in some studies [44][45][46] but increasing ratios have been found in others [47,48]. The 2012 ISAAC summary reported Asia-Pacific prevalences for 6-7 year old children to be 10.8% in boys and 8.2% girls [9].…”

Prevalence of wheeze during childhood: retrospective and prospective assessment

“…The validity of such a retrospective assessment of the lifetime prevalence of wheeze has been questioned because some surveys of children have failed to show a significant increase in "wheeze ever" with increasing age, and this has been explained by poor parental recall [1,7,8]. Most longitudinal surveys of childhood wheeze have been conducted in late childhood [9,10], or even adults [11], so that poor recall seems likely.…”

Amino acids and asthma: a case-control study

“…It is, therefore, possible that changes in the pattern of amino acid intake arising from an overall increase in the proportion of protein from animal sources [20] may have contributed to the rise in asthma prevalence that has occurred in most developed countries [21]. However, to the current authors9 knowledge, only one previous study has explored the role of plasma amino acids in subjects with asthma and demonstrated that plasma cystine levels were lower in children with previous status asthmaticus as compared to controls [22].…”