Association between Household Income and Asthma Symptoms among Elementary School Children in Seoul

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study examined the association between socioeconomic factors and asthma symptoms.MethodsA total of 6,919 elementary school children in Seoul were enrolled in the study. Data were obtained from a web-based questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood core module. The prevalence of wheeze in the past 12 months and severe asthma symptoms were obtained. The potential risk factors for asthma symptoms included household income and the number of siblings. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk factors of asthma symptoms.ResultsThe prevalence of current wheeze (wheeze in the past 12 months) was 5.2%. Household income and asthma symptoms were inversely associated after adjusting for other potential risk factors (p for trend=0.03). This association was modified by the number of siblings. With two or more siblings, the effect of household income on asthma symptoms was not significant. However, low household income was still a significant variable for patients with fewer than two siblings (OR 1.41; 95% CI, 1.09-1.81).ConclusionsIt appears that childhood asthma disparity is dependent on household income. Therefore, policies to improve childhood health inequities should be emphasized.

Socioeconomic and Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Asthma Related Outcomes in Early Childhood: The Generation R Study

“…A review by Mielck et al demonstrated conflicting results concerning the association between socioeconomic status and childhood asthma, but revealed that socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with increased risk of asthma [38] . Our study results are consistent with previous studies reporting associations of socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors with wheezing or asthma in age groups varying from the preschool period until adolescence [6] – [12] , [23] . The finding of a decreased risk on wheezing in other Western children, compared to Dutch children, might be partly attributable to a ‘healthy migrant’ effect, in the case that healthy first-generation immigrants who decided to come to the Netherlands for work were on average healthier than the native-born [20] .…”

“…Wide variations exist in the symptom prevalence of childhood asthma worldwide, with a general trend of higher asthma prevalence in more affluent countries [5] . Some studies report that asthma prevalence is disproportionately high among socially disadvantaged children [6] – [12] others found no or only a weak association between social disadvantage and childhood asthma [13] – [17] . Also variations in the prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms were found among children with different ethnic background living in the same country [18] – [23] .…”

Trends in the Prevalence of Childhood Asthma in Seoul Metropolitan City, Korea: The Seoul Atopy ∙ Asthma-friendly School Project

“…Genetic and socioeconomic factors were related to the incidence of childhood asthma in this study, similar to previous studies in Korea [18,19]. Socioeconomic factors relate to both the surrounding environment and the residential or indoor environment.…”

Application of a novel socioeconomic measure using individual housing data in asthma research: an exploratory study

“… 1 , 2 There are significant disparities in asthma control status among children with different SES, with those from lower SES having poorer asthma control compared with children from higher SES. 3 , 4 Despite the influence of SES on health outcomes, common measures of SES are difficult to obtain in routinely used data sources for clinical research such as administrative data sets and medical records. 5–7 SES measures at an aggregate level (e.g., census tract, block-group or zip code) are used as proxy measures for individual SES.…”