Prevalence and risk factors for asthma and chronic bronchitis in the capitals Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn

Abstract

The aim of this part of the FinEsS-studies was to assess whether differences existed in prevalence of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and respiratory symptoms between three Baltic capitals, and to examine risk factor profiles for respiratory conditions. In 1996, a postal survey was performed in these cities with a response rate of 72% in Stockholm, 76% in Helsinki, and 68% in Tallinn. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 76% in Stockholm, 6.2% in Helsinki, and 2.3% in Tallinn, while respiratory symptoms were most common in Tallinn. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed chronic bronchitis was 10.6% in Tallinn, 3.4% in Helsinki, and 3.0% in Stockholm. Risk factor analyses revealed a significantly increased risk for those living in Tallinn compared to that of Stockholm for wheezing conditions, OR 1.56-1.69, longstanding cough, OR 1.92 (1.74-2.13), attacks of shortness of breath during the previous 12 months, OR 1.35 (1.20-1.52), and chronic productive cough, OR 1.49 (1.28-1.74). Subjects having symptoms common in asthma were more likely to have physician-diagnosed asthma in Stockholm and Helsinki than in Tallinn, while subjects having bronchitis symptoms had more often physician-diagnosed chronic bronchitis in Tallinn. Prevalence of respiratory symptoms was higher in Tallinn than in Stockholm and Helsinki, while physician-diagnosed asthma was more common in Stockholm and Helsinki. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed chronic bronchitis was three times as high in Tallinn as in Helsinki or Stockholm. Our results also suggest large differences in diagnostic practices between the three countries, while the differences between the capitals in true prevalence of disease may be small.

Repaired oesophageal atresia: respiratory morbidity and pulmonary function in adults

“…among adults [17], whereas in patients with OA it is even higher [9,10,12,14,15]. In the present study, 16% of the adult patients with repaired OA and 6% of the general populationderived controls have DDA.…”

“…Prevalence of wheeze ranges 26-43% [10,13,14], and that of doctor-diagnosed asthma (DDA) 12-29% [9,10,12,14,15]. This is generally higher than in children (8.8%) [16] and adults (6%) [17]. Additionally, pulmonary function (PF) abnormalities, mostly mild restrictive disease [14,18,19], occur after repair of OA in childhood [14], adolescence [9,18,20,21] and adulthood [12,19,21].…”

Alarmingly high prevalence of smoking and symptoms of bronchitis in young women in Sweden: a population-based questionnaire study

“…The questions were based on the Swedish OLIN study questionnaire [12][13][14][15][16] which contains items about obstructive respiratory symptoms and diseases, smoking, and other possible determinants of disease. The questionnaire was developed mainly from the British Medical Research Council questionnaire and has been used in several large-scale studies in the Nordic and Baltic countries.…”

“…The questionnaire was developed mainly from the British Medical Research Council questionnaire and has been used in several large-scale studies in the Nordic and Baltic countries. [12][13][14][15][16] A comparison of the OLIN and Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA 2 LEN) questionnaires concludes that questions about bronchitis are more detailed in the OLIN questionnaire. 17 Questions on common asthma symptoms are similar or identical in the two questionnaires, and they yielded similar estimates of prevalence of respiratory symptoms and diseases in the same population.…”

“…15,22 In middle-income and low-income countries, smoking rates are higher in men. 4 However, as pointed out in the GATS survey, women in those countries also start to smoke at an early age.…”