Exercise-induced asthma in schoolchildren. A pilot study in two Haifa districts.

The prevalence of exercise-induced asthma was studied in 313 Haifa schoolchildren, 160 living in an unpolluted urban area close to the sea and 153 living in a rural kibbutz (communal agricultural settlement) in the proximity of polluting industries. The overall prevalence was 8.6%; it was higher in the kibbutz group, but the difference was not significant. The prevalence tended to fall with increasing age and did not change with sex.