Extract
Asthma is common in children worldwide, although its prevalence varies substantially by location. The prevalence of wheeze over a 12-month period ranged from 2.1% to 32.2% in the older age group (13–14 years) and 4.1% to 32.1% in the younger age group (6–7 years) [1]. There is a positive association between current symptoms of asthma in younger and older children with gross national income [2], and it is generally slightly less common in girls than boys in the younger group [1–3]. Exposure to air pollution is associated with asthma exacerbations. Odds ratios for wheeze in the past year and the use of solely an open fire for cooking were 2.17 (95% CI 1.64–2.87) for children aged 6–7 years and 1.35 (95% CI 1.11–1.64) for children aged 13–14 years [4]. Nepalese children are exposed to high levels of indoor air pollution from the burning of biomass fuels [5]. This study aimed to estimate their prevalence of asthma, and to investigate the association of air pollution and risk of wheeze and rhinitis symptoms using personal exposure estimates of air pollution.
Abstract
Amongst children in rural Nepal, an association of dry cough with air pollution was seen only in boys http://ow.ly/MOa5u
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the families who kindly took part in this study, and study team members G. Chaube (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal), S. Jha (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal), R.N. Mahato (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal), B.P. Shrestha (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Janakpur, Nepal), C.M. Thapa (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal), D. Thapa (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal), R. Yadav (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal) and S. Yadav (Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal) who collected the data.
Footnotes
Support statement: The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust (grant 092121/Z/10/Z), which played no role in the conception, methods, analysis or interpretation of the study. Funding information for this article has been deposited with FundRef.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside this article at openres.ersjournals.com
- Received March 23, 2015.
- Accepted May 5, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015
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