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.