ASTHMA AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOLCHILDREN IN RELATION TO THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Background Poor indoor air quality has been suggested to be related to the increase in the prevalence of asthma that has occurred in the wes tern world, especially among children and young persons. Apart from th e home, school is the most important indoor environment for children. Objectives The aims were to study the prevalence of current asthma amo ng secondary pupils and its relationship to the school environment, bu t also to personal factors and domestic exposures. Methods Data on ast hmatic symptoms, other health aspects, and domestic exposures were gat hered using a questionnaire which was sent to 762 pupils in the sevent h form (13-14 years old) in 11 randomly chosen schools in the county o f Uppsala in Sweden. Pupils answering 'yes' to having had asthma diagn osed by a physician, and having had recent asthma attacks, or who used asthma medication were defined as having current asthma. Data on expo sures at school were gathered by measurements in 28 classrooms. The re lationship between asthma and exposures was analysed by multiple logis tic regression. Results The questionnaire was completed by 627 (82%). Current asthma was found among 40 pupils (6.4%). Current asthma was mo re common in those who had an atopic disposition, or food allergy, or who had attended a day care centre for several years. Controlling for these factors, current asthma was related to several factors in the sc hool environment. There were more pupils with current asthma in school s that were larger, had more open shelves, lower room temperature, hig her relative air humidity, higher concentrations of formaldehyde or ot her volatile organic compounds, viable moulds or bacteria or more cat allergen in the settled dust. Conclusions Although the pupils attended school for a minor part of their time, our study indicates that the q uality of the school environment is of importance and may affect asthm atic symptoms.