Prevalence of Asthma among High School Students in Ajman, Uae: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Asthma is a global health issue which occurs in all countries regardless of economic status and development. It forms a huge burden on its patients and their fami-lies. Objective: To assess the prevalence of Asthma amongst high school students in Ajman and the factors associated with that. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three schools in Ajman among male and female students aged 15-18 years old. Signed consent was obtained from par-ents/guardians and self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection which covered prevalence, socio-demographics details, knowledge and burden of asthma. Results: Out of 455 students (185 boys and 270 girls), the prevalence of asthma was 9.8%. Among asthmatics the prevalence of wheeze, cough and breathing difficulty in the past one month was 27.9%, 12.3% and 25.7% respectively. Relatively more females (10.5%) had asthma than males (8.7%).Exposures including positive family history of asthma/allergies (P<0.01), passive smoking (P<0.05), exposure to cockroaches (P<0.05), physical activity (P<0.01), and weather changes (P<0.01) were found to be statistically significantly associated with Asthma. Conclusion: The prevalence of Asthma among school students was 9.8%. The major fac-tors associated with asthma were family history of asthma/allergies, passive smoking, cockroaches, physical activity and weather changes.