Health burden of co-morbid asthma and allergic rhinitis in West Indian children
- Autores: Lexley Pinto Pereira, J Jackman
- Localización: Allergologia et immunopathologia: International journal for clinical and investigate allergology and clinical immunology, ISSN-e 1578-1267, ISSN 0301-0546, Vol. 38, Nº. 3, 2010, págs. 129-134
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Background Co-morbid allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma has not been studied in Caribbean countries where there is a high prevalence of childhood asthma.
Methods Using the International Primary Care Airways Group (IPAG) guidelines to determine AR, care-givers of 393 (response rate=100%) children attending asthma clinics in selected public sector health facilities in Trinidad, West Indies, were interviewed.
Results Children (393) were between 2�17 years and included 239 (60.8%) boys and 154 (39.2%) girls. As many as 53.9% of children sampled (95% CI 45.9�55.8) suffered from AR. Children exposed to household smoking were nearly twice as likely to have AR (p<0.0041, OR=1.9, CI 1.22�2.88). Significantly (p<0.01) more asthmatics with AR (154, 58.6%) visited Accident and Emergency (A&E) in the past 12 months. The odds of visiting A&E at least once in the past 12 months for asthmatics with AR were 1.75 (95% CI 1.15�2.68). The average frequency of A&E visits was higher in children who also suffered from AR (1.75 vs 1.36, p<0.04). Age was negatively correlated (-0.21, p<0.005) with exacerbation frequency for asthmatics without AR suggesting A&E visits are independent of age in co-morbid disease. More children with AR (>60%) suffer day and night symptoms (p<0.001), and miss school (59.8%) (p<0.03) at least once a week (p<0.002) than asthmatics without AR (OR=1.5, 95% CI=1.03�2.30).
Conclusions AR is prevalent in 53.9% of Trinidadian children with asthma. The burden of co-morbid disease in asthmatic children is associated with increased likelihood of asthma-related A&E visits, day and night symptoms and absence from school.
