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BMC Pulmonary Medicine
Published in: BMC Pulmonary Medicine 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research article

Epidemiology of asthma and associated factors in an urban Pakistani population: adult asthma study-Karachi

Authors: Shama Razzaq, Asaad Ahmed Nafees, Unaib Rabbani, Muhammad Irfan, Shahla Naeem, Muhammad Arslan Khan, Zafar Fatmi, Peter Burney

Published in: BMC Pulmonary Medicine | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Background

This study was conducted in order to determine the prevalence of asthma and associated risk factors in the adult population of Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods

This multi-stage, cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 2014–August 2015; comprising 1629 adults in 75 randomly selected clusters in Karachi, Pakistan. Definitions included: ‘self-reported asthma’, ‘reversibility in FEV1’ and ‘respiratory symptoms and reversibility in FEV1’.

Results

Prevalence of asthma was 1.8% (self-reported) (95% CI: 1.0–2.6), 11.3% (reversibility in FEV1) (95% CI: 9.4–13.3) and 6.6% (symptoms and reversibility in FEV1) (95% CI: 5.1–8.1). Asthmatics were more likely to belong to the age group ≥38 years according to ‘reversibility in FEV1’ and ‘respiratory symptoms and reversibility in FEV1’ (AOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2–3.3) and (AOR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1–4.2), respectively. Asthmatics were more likely to report history of allergies (AOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2–2.9) and (AOR: 2.8, 95% CI: 1.7–4.8); and were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (AOR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1–2.5) and (AOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.3) according to ‘reversibility in FEV1’ and ‘respiratory symptoms and reversibility in FEV1’, respectively. Asthmatics were more likely to report pack years of smoking ≥5 (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1–4.7) according to ‘respiratory symptoms and reversibility in FEV1’.

Conclusion

This study reports a high prevalence of asthma among Pakistani adults and calls for developing appropriate public health policies for prevention and control of asthma in the country. Further studies should be conducted to determine the national prevalence as well as follow-up studies to identify preventable causes for adult asthma.
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Metadata
Title
Epidemiology of asthma and associated factors in an urban Pakistani population: adult asthma study-Karachi
Authors
Shama Razzaq
Asaad Ahmed Nafees
Unaib Rabbani
Muhammad Irfan
Shahla Naeem
Muhammad Arslan Khan
Zafar Fatmi
Peter Burney
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Pulmonary Medicine / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2466
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-018-0753-y

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