Prevalence of Bronchial Asthma among Primary School Children

Abstract

Background: Asthma the most common chronic condition among children is operationally defined as "recurrent wheezing and or persistent coughing in a setting where asthma is likely and other rare condition have been excluded. Bronchial asthma is prevalent worldwide, especially in developed countries where its prevalence is increasing to epidemic proportions. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of bronchial asthma among primary school children. Patients and Methods:This study was carried out on 2763 children that consisted of a representative sample of children attending eight primary schools in El Menoufiya Governorate. Four schools of them are located inside Shebin El Koum city the capital of the governorate. The other four schools are located in villages around the capital. Children were screened for chest symptoms by a questionnaire. Results: Clinical presentation of asthmatic children as cough, wheezes, dyspnea and chest tightness were the most common presenting symptoms. Also, rhinitis was the most common allergic condition that was associated with asthmatic children. Viral upper respiratory tract infection and environmental changes were the most common exacerbating factors while drugs and emotion were the least ones. Conclusion: This work highlighted on the prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma among primary school children in El-Menoufia governorate, with overall point prevalence of 6.5 %, which showed significant increase during the last 20 years as by comparing the result of our study to the result of same study in 20 years ago, which reported that the prevalence of bronchial asthma in primary school children in Menoufiya governorate was 2.2 % , as the prevalence increased by 4.3 % (Triple times) during this period. This explain the magnitude of the problem of bronchial asthma in our community.

Asthma-Related Knowledge, Management and Burden among Mothers of Intellectually Disabled Children with Bronchial Asthma

“…The present study revealed that the age of ID children with BA ranged from 6 -15 years. Studies conducted in Egypt validated the current study, stating that the incidence of asthma is 9.4% in Cairo schools for students aged 11 to 15 and 8.2% in another study of children aged 3 to 15 years (Ahmad et al, 2016;Ghonem, 2022).…”

“…Worldwide, bronchial asthma is a widespread condition, particularly in industrialized nations where it has epidemic proportions. The incidence of BA was 7.7% in Egypt, where it is a major health issue for schoolchildren (Ghonem, 2022). The present study revealed that the age of ID children with BA ranged from 6 -15 years.…”

Relationship between effectiveness of asthma management and genetic variants in asthmatic Egyptian children

“…Specifically, a 4.8% prevalence rate was identified in infants and children under four years of age from five different governorates [28]. Another study from El Menoufiya Governorate showed that the prevalence of asthma among primary school children was 6.5% [29]. Despite this rising prevalence, there is limited evidence regarding the proportions of uncontrolled patients and their genetic variants among the Egyptian population.…”

Effect of Parents’ Empowerment on Quality of Life among School-Aged Children with Bronchial Asthma

“…In Egypt, 8% of children are estimated to complain from bronchial asthma (Mohammed et al, 2020). In Menoufia Governorate, the prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma among primary school children is 6.5% (Ghonem, 2022). Bronchial asthma is considered the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 and one of the leading causes of absenteeism from school (Serebrisky & Wiznia, 2019).…”