Naslov
Prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and atopic eczema symptoms in school population of Zagreb, Croatia

Autori
Pevec, Branko ; Stipić-Marković, Asja ; Radulović Pevec, Mira ; Čvorišćec, Branimir ; Čustović, Adnan

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
XXIII EAACI Congress (12-16 June 2004, Amsterdam) ; The young investigator at the froniers of Allergy - Abstract Book / Gerth van Wijk, Roy ; Frew, Anthony J ; de Groot, Hans ; Kapsenberg, Martien ; de Monchy, Jan ; Quarles van Ufford, Adriaan ; van Ree, Ronald - Amsterdam : European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, 2004

Skup
XXIII EAACI Congress (12-16 June 2004, Amsterdam) ; The young investigator at the froniers of Allergy

Mjesto i datum
Amsterdam, Nizozemska, 12.06.2004. - 16.06.2004

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
allergies; asthma; childhood; Croatia; eczema; ISAAC; rhinitis; wheezing

Sažetak
Background There is no contemporary, up to date published data about the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and atopic eczema neither among adults nor among children in Croatia. The largest epidemiologic study of asthma in Croatia has been done by Mimica and coworkers in 1972 and repeated in 1982. Questionnaires about respiratory symptoms, recommended by the British council, were used to study 3265 participants. According to the first results 1.5% of the population had asthma. Ten years later, the results were different for rural areas, islands, and the coast where asthma was still present in 1.5% of the population, and for the urban areas, and continental part of the country where 4.5% of the population had asthma. Our aim was to gain the insight into the prevalence of allergic diseases in Zagreb, Croatia using methods of internationally standardized protocol, proposed by the ISAAC Steering Committee. Method Original questionnaires, translated from English into Croatian, consisting of questions about the child's demographic characteristics, core modules on wheezing, rhinitis and eczema, were completed by parents of 10-year-old children (4th grade) attending 18 elementary schools in a city of Zagreb. Total of 1047 questionnaires were returned and analyzed after the inconsistent responses were eliminated by phone calling. Results Results of our study showed that Zagreb with a 12-month prevalence of wheezing of 6.02% corresponds to prevalence range II (5 to <10%). Prevalence of asthma symptoms was greater in males, which is consistent with the results of the younger age group previously analyzed. Results of the 12-month prevalence of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (12.13%), and atopic eczema (7.83%) symptoms were somewhere between the two extremes found worldwide. As with asthma symptoms, the prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms was greater in males. Contrary, the difference in prevalence of atopic eczema symptoms between the sex groups has not been found. Conclusion According to our results, Zagreb is a city with relatively low prevalence of allergic diseases symptoms. Larger sample size of at least 3000 subjects is required to provide sufficient precision for estimates of symptom severity, and to generate adequate number of subjects with particular disorders for further analyses. Therefore, we recently increased our sample size to more than 3000 subjects, which are still being analyzed.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

POVEZANOST RADA