Prevalence and risk factors of asthma among school going children in urban area of North India

INTRODUCTION: Bronchial asthma is a chronic respiratory illness of global importance. Recent reports depict the increasing prevalence of this disorder in urban areas. METHODS: An observational study was designed with a sample size of 1163 children from grade 4 to grade 12, involving 8 randomly selected schools in 2015-2016. Modified International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood [ISAAC] questionnaire in local language [Hindi version] was used for data collection. The data of assessed risk factors were collected and analysed. RESULTS: Prevalence of asthma in the studied population was 2.8%. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant association of risk of asthma with use of firewood kitchener for cooking, keeping pet animals at home, high body mass index (BMI), absence of ventilator measures like chimney and aero-vent. Logistic regression analysis revealed use of firewood kitchener for cooking (odds ratio (OR) = 4.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.93-11.3), absence of smoke outlet (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3-5.8) and keeping pet animals (OR 3.2, CI 1.6-6.8) at home were observed to be significantly associated with asthma. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of asthma in our cohort was significantly lesser than that of developed world. Household smoke was the most conspicuous risk factor contributory to childhood asthma in this part of world.