Allergy. 1995 Sep;50(9):755-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.1995.tb01220.x.
The European Community Respiratory Health Survey is an international survey of the general population which aims to establish whether there are significant variations in the prevalence of asthma among European countries. The present paper reports the prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms in a sample of subjects living in three areas of northern Italy: Turin, Pavia, and Verona. Samples of residents 20-44 years old (3000 subjects in Turin and Verona and 1000 in Pavia) stratified by sex (M:F = 1/1) were randomly selected from local health authority lists in the three participating areas. To correct the observed prevalence estimate for nonresponse bias, a method proposed by Drane was applied. Of the sampled subjects, 86% (6031) participated in the survey. Two different definitions of asthma were adopted: 1) prevalence of asthma attack in the last 12 months; 2) prevalence of asthma attack or treatment with antiasthmatic drugs, or both wheezing apart from the common cold and wheezing with shortness of breath. This combination of symptoms has been called current asthma. According to these definitions, the prevalence of asthma attack was 3.47% (3.74% in men and 3.14% in women), and the prevalence of current asthma was 5.01% (5.07% in men and 4.90% in women). The lowest prevalence was found in Pavia; the highest in Turin. Our findings support the hypothesis that the difference in prevalence reflects the difference in mortality.
欧洲共同体呼吸健康调查是一项针对普通人群的国际调查，旨在确定欧洲各国哮喘患病率是否存在显著差异。本文报告了居住在意大利北部三个地区（都灵、帕维亚和维罗纳）的受试者样本中哮喘和哮喘样症状的患病率。从三个参与地区的地方卫生当局名单中随机抽取20至44岁的居民样本（都灵和维罗纳各3000名受试者，帕维亚1000名受试者），按性别分层（男:女 = 1/1）。为校正因无应答偏差导致的观察患病率估计值，应用了德雷恩提出的一种方法。在抽样受试者中，86%（6031人）参与了调查。采用了两种不同的哮喘定义：1）过去12个月内哮喘发作的患病率；2）哮喘发作或使用抗哮喘药物治疗的患病率，或除普通感冒引起的喘息和伴有呼吸急促的喘息之外的喘息患病率。这种症状组合被称为现患哮喘。根据这些定义，哮喘发作的患病率为3.47%（男性为3.74%，女性为3.14%），现患哮喘的患病率为5.01%（男性为5.07%，女性为4.90%）。患病率最低的是帕维亚；最高的是都灵。我们的研究结果支持这样一种假设，即患病率的差异反映了死亡率的差异。
