West Sweden Asthma Study: Prevalence trends over the last 18 years argues no recent increase in asthma

Lötvall Jan, Ekerljung Linda, Rönmark, Wennergren Göran, Lindén Anders, Rönmark Eva, Torén Kjell, Lundbäck, Lundbäck Bo

Description

Asthma prevalence has increased over the last fifty years, but the more recent changes have not been conclusively determined. Studies in children indicate that a plateau in the prevalence of asthma may have been reached, but this has not yet been confirmed in adults. Epidemiological studies have suggested that the prevalence of asthma in adults is approximately 7-10% in different parts of the western world. We have now performed a large-scale epidemiological evaluation of the prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in adults between the ages of 16-75 in West Sweden. Thirty thousand randomly chosen individuals were sent a detailed questionnaire focusing on asthma and respiratory symptoms, as well possible risk factors. Sixty-two percent of the contacted individuals responded to the questionnaire. Asthma prevalence, defined as asthma diagnosed by a physician, was 8.3%. Moreover, the prevalence of respiratory symptoms was lower compared to previous studies. The most common respiratory symptom was any wheeze (16.6%) followed by sputum production (13.3%). In comparison with studies performed 18 years ago, the prevalence of asthma has not increased, and the prevalence of most respiratory symptoms has decreased. Therefore, our data argues that the continued increase in asthma prevalence that has been observed over the last half century is over.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 29
• Langue: English

Extrait

Respiratory Research

BioMedCentral

Open Access Research West Sweden Asthma Study: Prevalence trends over the last 18 years argues no recent increase in asthma 1 1 1 2 Jan Lötvall* , Linda Ekerljung , Erik P Rönmark , Göran Wennergren , 1 1,4,5 3 1,4 Anders Lindén , Eva Rönmark , Kjell Torén and Bo Lundbäck

1 Address: Department of Internal Medicine, Krefting Research Centre, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2 3 Department of Pediatrics, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, Department of Environmental & 4 Occupational Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, The OLIN Studies, Department of Medicine, 5 Sunderby Central Hospital of Norrbotten, Luleå, Sweden and Environmental & Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden Email: Jan Lötvall*  [e-mail]; Linda Ekerljung  [e-mail]; Erik P Rönmark  [e-mail]; Göran Wennergren  [e-mail]; Anders Lindén  [e-mail]; Eva Rönmark  [e-mail]; Kjell Torén  [e-mail]; Bo Lundbäck  [e-mail] * Corresponding author

Published: 12 October 2009 Received: 7 May 2009 Accepted: 12 October 2009 Respiratory Research2009,10:94 doi:10.1186/146599211094 This article is available from: http://respiratoryresearch.com/content/10/1/94 © 2009 Lötvall et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract Asthma prevalence has increased over the last fifty years, but the more recent changes have not been conclusively determined. Studies in children indicate that a plateau in the prevalence of asthma may have been reached, but this has not yet been confirmed in adults. Epidemiological studies have suggested that the prevalence of asthma in adults is approximately 710% in different parts of the western world.

We have now performed a largescale epidemiological evaluation of the prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in adults between the ages of 1675 in West Sweden. Thirty thousand randomly chosen individuals were sent a detailed questionnaire focusing on asthma and respiratory symptoms, as well possible risk factors. Sixtytwo percent of the contacted individuals responded to the questionnaire. Asthma prevalence, defined as asthma diagnosed by a physician, was 8.3%. Moreover, the prevalence of respiratory symptoms was lower compared to previous studies. The most common respiratory symptom was any wheeze (16.6%) followed by sputum production (13.3%). In comparison with studies performed 18 years ago, the prevalence of asthma has not increased, and the prevalence of most respiratory symptoms has decreased. Therefore, our data argues that the continued increase in asthma prevalence that has been observed over the last half century is over.

Introduction In terms of prevalence and morbidity, asthma has increased in most parts of the world during the second half of the past century [13]. The increase was first recog nised in Australia, New Zealand and in areas of the United Kingdom (UK) and the USA, countries in which the mor

tality in asthma also increased at the time [1,4,5]. Less change in the prevalence, morbidity and mortality was seen in Continental [6,7] and Eastern Europe [8]. In East ern Europe, different diagnostic traditions compared to Western Europe partly explained a lower prevalence [9,10]. During the last decades of the century a marked

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