Wang Wenya, Lin Jiangtao, He Quanying, Wang Wen, Liu Jianhua, Xu Zhenyang, Zhang Jie, Su Nan, Liu Guoliang, Feng Xiaokai
Background: The objective of this survey was to explore the prevalence and burden of asthma in a Beijing population over 14 years old.
Methods: In accordance with stratified cluster random sampling, epidemiological questionnaires were performed in Beijing residents aged over 14 years during household visits from February 2009 to August 2010. Asthma was diagnosed by case history, clinical signs and lung function test. Then the criteria-fulfilling asthmatics were inquired in more details. The statistical software SAS 9.2 was performed for data analysis.
Results: In a sampling population of 61,107, 57,647 questionnaires were valid. Among 687 asthmatics, there were 296 males and 391 females. The overall prevalence rate of asthma was 1.19%. The rates of asthma prevalence were 1.09% and 1.40% in urban and suburb areas respectively. And the prevalence rate of asthma in suburb area was significantly higher than that of urban area. The prevalence rates of males and females were 1.06% and 1.32% respectively and the prevalence rate of asthma for females was much higher than that for males. Significant differences existed among different age groups. The residents aged at or over 65 years had the highest prevalence rate. The prevalence rates in urban and suburb areas increased by 1.12 and 2.26 folds respectively than that of 2002. And 198 first-diagnosed asthmatics accounted for 28.8% of all asthmatics.
Conclusion: A significantly rising trend of asthma prevalence is plainly evident. The current prevalence of asthma is moderate in Beijing, but its impact remains challenging.
