Mallol Javier, Aguirre Viviana, Aguilar Pedro, Calvo Mario, Amarales Lidia, Arellano Pamela, Palma Rodrigo
Departamento de Medicina Respiratoria Infantil, Hospital CRS El Pino, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile.
Rev Med Chil. 2007 May;135(5):580-6. doi: 10.4067/s0034-98872007000500005. Epub 2007 Jul 9.
In developed countries, the prevalence of asthma in children has significantly increased in the last decades. However, there is no information about the trends of asthma in Latin America.
To determine changes in asthma prevalence between 1994 and 2002 in Chilean schoolchildren.
The prevalence of asthma symptoms in schoolchildren aged 7 (n =18.697) and 13 years (n =18.939), from South Santiago, Valdivia and Punta Arenas, obtained during phases I and III of the ISAAC, carried out in 1994 and 2002, was compared.
From 1994 to 2002, the mean national prevalence of "wheezing in the last 12 months" in the group aged 6-7 years, changed from 18.2% to 17.9% (p =NS); "asthma ever" from 12.5% to 10.7% (p =NS), and "severe episode" from 3.2% to 2.8% (p =NS). There was a significant increase of the prevalence of "wheezing in the last 12 months", in children aged 13-14 years, from 9.8% to 15.5% (p =0.01); in "asthma ever" from 10.2% to 14.9% (p =0.01), and for "severe episode" from 2.8% to 3.8% (p =0.01).
There was a significant increase in the prevalence of respiratory symptoms related to asthma in children aged 13-14 years that was consistent in all the 3 participating centres of the ISAAC. However, the prevalence of asthma symptoms in children aged 6-7 years remained without significant changes between 1994 and 2002.
