[School absenteeism in asthmatic students of an academic institution in Cali].

INTRODUCTION

Asthma as a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that is characterized by wheezing, respiratory distress, chest tightness and cough, which occurs mainly at night or in the early hours of the morning. In spite of the diagnostic and therapeutic advances, the prevalence of this pathology worldwide continues to increase, affecting mainly the child and adolescent population, in which it generates limitations in daily physical activity, interference in sleep, absence from school days and low academic performance. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of school absenteeism in asthmatic students of an educational institution in the city of Cali.

METHODOLOGY

A total of 385 students from 5 to 14 years were included in the study, to which they were supplied with the ISAAC questionnaire, which were completed by the caregivers. From the data obtained, the statistical analysis was performed in the SPSS package version 20

RESULTS

The prevalence of asthma found was 27%, in relation to the absenteeism in this group of students it was evidenced that in total 776 days of classes had been lost during the year, with an average of 7.5 days (DE +/- 7) per student. 45% missed 1-5 times and 6% more than 20 times

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the findings, it is concluded that asthma is a disease that can have clear repercussions at school level.