Objective To explore the risk factors for asthma in school-age children, and to provide the data for asthma control and prevention.
Methods Asthma cases aged 4-15 years(n=202)from schools were recruited and matched for year of birth, sex, and living area with randomly selected schoolchildren controls(n=391). Cases and controls were surveyed by questionnaire to ascertain the asthma and various proposed risk factors for asthma. Asthma was defined as ever having been diagnosed as asthma by doctors.
Results After adjusting the confounder variables, factors which increased the risk of asthma were:mother education > 13 years(OR:1.76; 95%CI:1.15-2.71), low weight birth(OR:1.89; 95%CI:1.03-3.47), maternal history of asthma(OR:4.27; 95%CI:1.59-11.42), paternal history of allergy(OR:2.94; 95%CI:1.79-4.80), maternal history of allergy(OR:2.21; 95%CI:1.34-3.64), sharing bedroom with parents or others(OR:1.66; 95%CI:1.10-2.51), breeding furry pets while less than 2 years old(OR:2.24; 95%CI:1.02-4.90), indoor environmental tobacco smoke exposure (1-10/d:1.57; 95%CI:1.01-2.43; ≥ 11/d:2.36; 95%CI:1.06-2.58), using gas stove cooking more than 45 minutes per day (OR:1.89; 95%CI:1.22-2.83), visible moulds in rooms(OR:2.59; 95%CI:1.08-8.06), and having a busy traffic within 50 meters to home(OR:1.70; 95%CI:1.11-2.62).
Conclusion Genetic factors are most important to increase asthma risk. Of the environmental factors tested, those having the greatest potential if modified to reduce the risk of asthma are environmental tobacco smoke exposure, furry pet exposure in early life, and indoor visible moulds.
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