High prevalence of asthma in five remote indigenous communities in Australia

Data on the prevalence of asthma in children residing in remote indigenous communities in Australia are sparse, despite the many reports of high preva lence in nonindigenous children of this country. Two previous Australian st udies have had poor participation rates, limiting interpretation of their r esults. A study of children in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area of Aus tralia was conducted to document the prevalence of asthma symptoms. Five in digenous communities were randomly selected and trained interviewers, who w ere local indigenous health workers, recruited participants using a house-b y-house approach. Information was collected by a structured face-to-face in terview based on standardized questionnaire constructed from the protocol I nternational Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood; 1,650 children were included in the study with a 98% response rate. Overall, the prevalence of self-reported ever wheezing was 21%,; 12% report ed wheezing in the previous year; and 16%, reported ever having asthma, The re was significant variation in the prevalence of asthma symptoms between c ommunities. It is concluded that there are significant intercommunity variations in the prevalence of asthma symptoms in remote communities and that the prevalenc e in these communities is as high as in nonindigenous groups.