Prevalence of bronchial asthma in schoolchildren in Oslo, Norway

Abstract

In 1993, 4521 schoolchildren in Oslo, Norway, participated in a European study on air pollution and respiratory health. Incorporated in the primary questionnaire were five questions taken from a study performed 12 years earlier on 1772 schoolchildren in the same city. The response rate was 85% in 1993 vs 95% in 1981. The current and cumulative prevalences of doctor‐diagnosed asthma in 1993 were 4.2% and 8.0%, respectively, compared to 2.2% (P<0.01) and 3.4% (P<0.01) in 1981. Attacks of breathlessness during the last 3 years were experienced by 7.1% in 1993 and 3.3% in 1981 (P<0.05). Wheezing or breathlessness on exposure to pollen in 1993 and 1981 was reported by 6.1% and 3.7% (P<0.01), respectively; to animals by 4.0% and 2.8% (P<0.05); and to exercise by 10.2% and 4.8% (P<0.01). The prevalence of occasional wheezing and the cumulative prevalence of doctor‐diagnosed eczema, urticaria, and hay fever were not significantly altered. To summarize, a higher prevalence of both doctor‐diagnosed asthma and symptoms of obstructive airways disease was reported by children attending primary school in Oslo in 1993 than 12 years earlier. No increase was observed in the prevalence of other atopic diseases.

Astma

“…Blant barn og ungdom (6-16år) i perioden 1994-95 oppga omtrent 9% i Oslo, 5% i Odda og 8% i øvre Hallingdal i 1994/95 at de noen gang hadde hatt astma (22,23). Spørsmålet "Har du astma?"…”

Epidemiology and Natural History of Atopic Disease

“…5.12), higher levels have been described. In Sweden it decreased from 5% to 4.5% between 1981 and 1993 and is significantly more frequent in females [294]. 5.5) and 1% at 5 years [148].…”

“…5.20) [292]. In Sweden, allergy to pets and pollen is prevalent [35], and is increased by 2.4% in 12 years [294], the rates in Finland are higher [245]. 5.21,5.22).…”

“…Several parameters can invalidate the indispensable prerequisites of epidemiological data (Table 5.1) [20,31,33,100,112,232,294,341] such as the lack of uniformity of terminology in establishing definitions and of criteria employed for the diagnosis [232]. Apart from most prospective studies, some are retrospective and bedeviled by problems of subject memory, such as the frequent reports affected by parents' recall bias, and liable to variations ranging from 25% [69,127,193] to 44% [142].…”

“…The natural history of AD in children is poorly known due to the few studies that have been conducted; however, it can be in part re-established on the available data indicating a significant increase in prevalence in recent years (Table 5.7) [3,5,10,12,43,55,69,72,92,137,174,178,215,221,233,253,282,294,309,323], for example, up to 12.6-fold in England between 1946 and 1994. In a study of 1,654 children, it was 7%-25% at 11 years depending on low or high CBIgE [69].…”