Asthma produces substantial morbidity in childhood. Under-diagnosis may lea
d to inappropriate treatment and prolonged periods of illness and absence f
rom school. The results of a recent International Study of Asthma and Aller
gies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire study in Malta showed a higher prev
alence of wheezy symptoms in the Central North Region. The present study wa
s carried out to test the null hypothesis that there is no correlation betw
een potential exposure to pediatricians (measured as pediatric private clin
ics/1000 childhood population/week) and percentage of children aged 13-15 y
ears of age responding positively in the questionnaire to having had wheezy
symptoms. A significant, positive correlation was found between potential
exposure to pediatricians and percentage of children aged 13-15 years respo
nding positively to having had wheeze in the previous year (p=0.009). A neg
ative correlation was also found for severity of asthma (>12 attacks in the
previous 12 months) and potential exposure to pediatricians (p=0.01), This
is the first report of potential exposure to pediatricians influencing the
regional incidence of asthma on a national basis. This skew may be caused
by the greater exposure of pediatricians to patients with severe forms of a
sthma in a hospital setting, and hence a higher index of suspicion for the
milder forms of the disease, Asthma may be less severe in regions where the
re are a greater number of pediatricians because of recognition of the cond
ition with appropriate treatment and/or prophylaxis.