Screening for Common Respiratory Diseases among Israeli Adolescents

Abstract

Y Bar Dayan, K Elishkevits, L Goldstein, et al. Screening for common respiratory diseases among Israeli adolescents. Can Respir J 2004;11(4):298-300.BACKGROUND: Respiratory diseases are responsible for a significant proportion of serious morbidity among adolescents. There are few reports on the prevalence of common respiratory disorders in this population. The previous studies focused on specific diseases and screened relatively small samples. OBJECTIVE: To define the prevalence of different common respiratory disorders among 17-year-old Israeli conscripts. DESIGN: All 17-year-old Israeli nationals are obliged by law to appear at the Israel Defense Forces recruiting office for medical examination. Respiratory disease specialists evaluated and classified nominees with suspected respiratory disorders. RESULTS: A high prevalence of respiratory morbidity was found among 94,805 17-year-old conscripts (61.5% male, 39.5% female). The most prevalent diagnosis was asthma (in 8% of male and 6.8% of female subjects). Fifty-five per cent of the asthma patients suffered from moderate to severe disease. The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was 0.03% for the male and 0.01% for the female subjects. A difference in morbidity patterns between male and female adolescents was noted, particularly in the prevalence of chest deformation and spontaneous pneumothorax. CONCLUSIONS: The most prevalent respiratory disorder among 17-year-old Israeli conscripts was asthma. One-half of the asthma patients in this study suffered from moderate to severe disease. The prevalence of other respiratory disorders was much lower.

Respiratory disorders in the Middle East: A review

“…Pneumothoraces are usually traumatic in aetiology and can be seen at a large scale in countries prone to earthquakes such as Iran and Turkey 127 . Spontaneous pneumothorax can occur with emphysematous lungs or can be idiopathic in origin 128 . Occasionally, ruptured hydatid cyst can lead to a hydro‐pneumothorax 129 …”

“…127 Spontaneous pneumothorax can occur with emphysematous lungs or can be idiopathic in origin. 128 Occasionally, ruptured hydatid cyst can lead to a hydro-pneumothorax. 129 Exudative pleural effusions are also common and infectious causes especially tuberculous effusions are prevalent.…”

From Population Databases to Research and Informed Health Decisions and Policy

“…Such studies can deal with prevalence and incidence of the medical condition among selected populations, secular trends of certain medical conditions, possible associations with sociodemographic variables, and interrelations with different anthropometric indices and other medical conditions. Previous studies that explored the IDF medical databases, or selected subpopulations based on year of examination, gender, region, etc., have focused on medical conditions such as extreme body-mass index ( 27 , 39 – 45 ), hypertension ( 46 , 47 ), asthma and other common respiratory diseases ( 48 – 51 ), myopia ( 52 ), cardiovascular diseases ( 53 ), diverse orthopedic disorders ( 54 – 57 ), inflammatory bowel disease ( 58 ), and others ( 59 ). These medical data can be linked to other sources of information, for example: the Israel National Cancer Registry ( 60 – 69 ), the Israeli Treated End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) registry ( 70 ), and the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics ( 71 ).…”