Prevalence of Asthma in School going Children of Semi-Urban Area in the State of Madhya Pradesh

Introduction: Childhood asthma is the common chronic illness among school going children and is reportedly under diagnosed and undertreated. Rise in prevalence of childhood asthma is a matter of concern worldwide and in India also. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of asthma among school children of 7th and 8th standard in semi-urban area of Bhopal and to find the association of various factors with asthma in the study population. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire based study, done among school going children of 7th and 8th standard, in the semiurban area of Bhopal. Questionnaire was based on that used by International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISSAC). Results: The prevalence of questionnaire diagnosed asthma among 331 school going children studied was found out to be 13.9%. Out of this majority i.e. around 87% were newly diagnosed asthmatics. Out of the various factors examined for association with asthma, family history of asthma, history of allergy and cough without cold were found to be significantly associated. Females were having more prevalence as that of males and the ratio being 1:1.5 (male: female). Other variables such as pets at home, environmental tobacco smoke, and absence of chimney for smoke did not show any statistically significant association with the study. Conclusion: The study confirms the higher trend of asthma prevalence as depicted by various studies.