PREVALENCE OF ASTHMA AND ALLERGY IN HONG-KONG SCHOOLCHILDREN - AN ISAAC STUDY

Asthma and allergic disease in children is increasing in many Western countries but such trend has not been well-defined in Chinese populati ons. This paper aims to determine the prevalence of asthma and allergi c disease in Hong Kong schoolchildren and compare it with previous dat a to identify a changing trend. We studied 4,665 schoolchildren aged 1 3-14 yrs using the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childh ood (ISAAC) protocol to determine prevalence rates for asthma, wheeze, respiratory symptoms, rhinitis and eczema in 1994-1995, Additional qu estions on education levels of the parents and smoking status were als o asked. Concordance between responses to the written and video questi onnaires was good (76% for wheeze ever, 80% for current wheeze). Preva lence rates for asthma ever, wheeze ever, and current wheeze were 11, 20 and 12%, respectively, and were greater in boys (p<0.05). Rhinitis affected slightly over half of the subjects (52%), and eczema was repo rted by a sixth (15%), whilst current rhinitis and current eczema were present in 44% and 3.6% of children, respectively. In multiple logist ic regression: odds ratio male sex (OR) 1.47; (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.15-1.86); current rhinitis (OR 3.00; 95% CI 2.36-3.81); cu rrent eczema (OR 2.34; 95% CI 1.40-3.93); and active smoking (OR 2.00; 95% CI 1.38-2.89) were associated with current wheeze; whilst severe wheezing attack was associated with: current rhinitis (OR 2.72; 95% CI 1.47-5.02); current eczema (OR 6.13; 95% CI 2.82-13.33); and active s moking (OR 4.62; 95% CI 2.43-8.76). Age, parental education and passiv e smoking were not important factors. When compared to previous epidem iological data obtained in 1992, the prevalence rates for asthma ever and wheeze ever had increased by 71 and 255%, respectively, in Hong Ko ng schoolchildren. The severity of asthma and respiratory symptoms sho wed a similar increasing trend. Further studies should aim to identify the role of the environment in the pathogenesis of asthma.