The prevalence of asthma in schoolboys of travellers' families

This study compared the prevalence of asthma in travelling schoolboys and s ettled controls to determine whether the travelling lifestyle may be a prot ective factor in the development of asthma. Information was collected by parental responses to the ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) questionnaire. The design was a cross-sectional study with descriptive and analytical components. The sub jects were six to twelve year old schoolboys from all male travelling child ren in Cork and from a selection of settled schoolboys, In addition the stu dy collected information on the predictor variables - age, passive smoking and number of siblings.