Abstract

Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children, and its incidences are often imminent among elementary schoolchildren. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of asthma symptoms in Golestan schoolchildren aged 6-7 and 13-14 years in Northeast Iran. The prevalence rate was compared according to age group (aged 6-7 years vs. aged 13-14 years) and gender (male vs. female). In this cross-sectional study, 1706 Iranian schoolchildren aged 6-7 and 13-14 years in Golestan Province were enrolled. Participants completed questionnaires between February and July 2014. Asthma symptoms were assessed using the questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood protocol in Persian. The logistic regression model was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95 confidence intervals (CIs) of the asthma symptoms for each of the gender and age groups. The prevalence rates of "current asthma" symptoms and "asthma ever" in all the children were estimated as 9.5 and 7.5, respectively. The prevalence of asthma ("asthma ever" and "wheezing in the past 12 months") in junior high schoolchildren (aged 13-14 years) is higher than that in elementary schoolchildren (aged 6-7 years) (P < 0.05). The prevalence of the severity of wheezing in girls is lower than that in boys (OR = 1.7, 95CI = 1.06-2.96, P = 0.02). Asthma is still a major public health problem. This study shows that the prevalence of the asthma symptoms in boys is lower than that in girls in both age groups, and the severity of asthma in girls is higher than that in boys aged 13-14 years.