Browsing by Author "Erkki, K"
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Publication Asthma symptomatics school children of Sonapur(Kathmandu University, 2007) Pokharel, PK; Pokharel, P; Bhatta, NK; Pandey, RM; Erkki, KAbstract Background: Bronchial asthma is one of the most common illnesses in children. Factors influencing development of asthma have not been studied in rural population. Materials and methods: Two thousand school-going children from three schools of Sonapur VDC, Sunsari in the surrounding of industries were screened for the presence of symptoms of asthma using a questionnaire suggested by International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Children (ISSAC). Results: One hundred twenty children were identified with symptoms of bronchial asthma. For each child with asthma two age and sex matched non-asthmatic control were selected from the study population. History, clinical examination and in-depth interview were carried out for all cases and controls. Factors associated with presence of symptoms of asthma on multivariate analysis were: passive smoking (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.85-7.65), pets at home (OR 5.5, 95% CI 1.04-29.15), and absence of windows in living rooms (OR 4.03, 95% CI 1.17- 13.79). Factors such as family history of asthma, history of worm infestation, fuel used for cooking, location of kitchen and food allergy were not significant in statistical analysis. Conclusion: Thus, passive smoking, inadequate ventilation and domestic animals and pets (dogs and cats) at home are significant risk factors associated with presence of symptoms of asthma in these children. Key words: asthma; risk factors; passive smoking; domestic animals and pets; cross ventilation; childhood asthma