Characteristics of participants in the Swiss Paediatric Airway Cohort (SPAC) by March 2018
Characteristics | Total participants (n=347) | Participants by age | ||
<5 years (n=99) | 5–9 years (n=116) | ≥10 years (n=132) | ||
Study centre | ||||
Bern | 87 (25) | 27 (27) | 26 (22) | 34 (26) |
Zurich | 129 (38) | 31 (31) | 41 (35) | 57 (43) |
Lucerne | 102 (29) | 35 (35) | 41 (35) | 26 (20) |
Basel | 29 (8) | 6 (6) | 8 (7) | 15 (11) |
Demographics | ||||
Age years | 8±4 | 3±1 | 7±1 | 13±2 |
Male sex | 214 (62) | 67 (68) | 68 (59) | 79 (60) |
Symptoms#,¶ | ||||
Wheeze | 217 (63) | 77 (78) | 76 (66) | 64 (48) |
Cough at night apart from colds | 167 (48) | 48 (48) | 61 (53) | 58 (44) |
Rhinitis apart from colds | 188 (54) | 43 (43) | 67 (58) | 78 (59) |
Exercise-induced respiratory symptoms | 200 (58) | 36 (36) | 63 (54) | 101 (77) |
Habitual snoring (most nights) apart from colds | 46 (13) | 10 (10) | 15 (13) | 21 (16) |
Environmental exposures¶ | ||||
Maternal smoking | 64 (18) | 19 (19) | 18 (16) | 27 (20) |
Paternal smoking | 93 (27) | 29 (29) | 26 (22) | 38 (29) |
Living on a farm | 15 (4) | 6 (6) | 3 (3) | 6 (5) |
Pets at home | 118 (34) | 22 (22) | 38 (33) | 58 (44) |
Mould in the house | 34 (10) | 15 (15) | 11 (9) | 8 (6) |
Physical activity | ||||
Not very active | 31 (9) | 3 (3) | 7 (6) | 21 (16) |
Moderately active | 223 (64) | 58 (59) | 74 (64) | 91 (69) |
Very active | 93 (27) | 38 (38) | 35 (30) | 20 (15) |
Treatment history¶ | ||||
Used inhaled SABA | 259 (75) | 82 (83) | 95 (82) | 82 (83) |
Used ICS | 184 (59) | 55 (63) | 59 (57) | 70 (58) |
Data is displayed as n (%) or mean±sd. SABA: short-acting β-agonists; ICS: inhaled corticosteroids; ISAAC: International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. #: questions on symptoms were based on questions used in the ISAAC study, either alone or in combination (e.g. pulmicort, axotide, seretide and symbicort); ¶: data as recorded over the past 12 months.