الفهرس 
BRONCHIAL ASTHMAOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood, imposing a huge burden on the patient, their family and society. The burden of asthma consists mainly of a decreased quality of life for the patient and their family, as well as high costs for society; the healthcare expenditures for asthma in developed countries are 1-2% of the total healthcare costs.
The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence rate of bronchial asthma and other atopic diseases and factors affecting asthma prevalence among school children from 6-15-year-old in Minya governorate using the ISAAC questionnaire, 1000 students were included in this study (555 were males and 445 were females). The age of students ranged from 6-15 years with the mean age of 11years.
All students were given a written questionnaire including personal data (name, age, sex, residence), history as regards asthma and other atopic diseases, complementary questions for risk factors, were taken into consideration as (history of breast feeding, father education, environmental conditions and exposure to tobacco smoke).
The questionnaires were distributed to the school children to be completed by their parents at home (for the primary school children 6-11 years old) and for the preparatory school children 12-15 years old, the questionnaires were completed by the student himself.
The results of this questionnaire among studied students (1000 students) showed that: 147 (14.7%) of studied students were asthmatics, 82 (8.2%) of studied students had allergic rhinitis, 118 (11.8%) of studied students had atopic dermatitis, 132 (13.2%) of studied students had allergic conjunctivitis.
The study found that there the percentage of male students suffering of asthma more than female students in age group (6-11) but the difference is statistically not significant, also it showed no difference between males and females in age group(12-15).
It was also found that the percentage of asthma among students younger age group (6-11) years similar to percentage of students of higher age group (12-15) years.
Also the study found a higher percentage of presence of bronchial asthma among students living in rural areas compared to students living in urban areas. But the difference is statistically not significant.
According to the severity of asthma it has been found that the asthmatic students were classified into: Mild intermittent 50 (34%) of the total asthmatic students, mild persistent 40 (27.2%) of the total asthmatic students, moderate persistent 49 (33.3%) of the total asthmatic students, severe persistent 8 (5.4%) of the total asthmatic students.
Asthma exacerbations occurred in winter season, and 71.3% of these exacerbations induced by viral infections.
In the present study, a higher percentage of asthmatic students were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. It is mentioning as exposure to tobacco smoke is the main of home environmental factors.
It was found that there is a higher statistical increase of family history of atopy among students with bronchial asthma
The study found also a higher statistical significant increase of exposure to nearby air pollution among asthmatic students.
There was a significant increase of hospital admission among students with severe and moderate asthma than students with mild asthma.
The study found that about 46.2% of asthmatic students did not take regular treatment (controller therapy), which may be due to defective health care and health education.
As regards exercise induced asthma, the current study represent that exercise induced asthma (EIA) occurs in up to 87% of asthmatic student and up to 11.8 % of school children.
The current study showed that there was difference between asthmatic students and non asthmatic as regards the mean crowding index, being more with increase the crowding index
In addition, the study found that a higher percentage of artificial feeding among cases with asthma compared to students with no asthma and the difference is statistically significant.
The sociodemographic characteristics of studied students showed that there was a higher percentage of asthma patients among the low socioeconomic group compared to other groups, but the difference was statistically not significant.