TRENDS IN ASTHMA PREVALENCE - THE BOGALUSA HEART-STUDY

Background: Epidemiologic surveys from different parts of the develope d world are showing increases in asthma prevalence; the causes are not known. Objective: To describe trends in prevalence of childhood asthm a measured across serial cross-sectional surveys of the school age pop ulation of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Methods: The Bogalusa Heart Study is a long-term epidemiologic study of risk factors for cardiovascular dise ase in children in a stable, semirural, biracial community. Part of th e examination includes a parent-completed health history questionnaire , The item, ''Does your child have or has your child had in the past.. .asthma?'' was included in the 1983-5, 1987-8, and 1992-4 surveys. Dat a analysis was restricted to subjects aged 5 to 17 years. Results: Thr ee thousand two hundred seventy-six subjects participated in 1983-5, 3 256 in 1987-8, and 3128 in 1992-4. Reported asthma prevalence increase d from 9.2% to 15.9% between 1983-5 and 1992-4. Maternal smoking was a ssociated with asthma in all three surveys, Young age and African Amer ican ethnicity were associated with asthma only in the 1992-4 survey. Conclusions: The prevalence of asthma among the school age population of Bogalusa, Louisiana increased by 73% between the 1983-5 and the 199 2-4 surveys. Whether the increase in asthma prevalence represents an i ncrease in disease presence or an increase in disease recognition cann ot be determined from these data.