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

Authors

Shama Razzaq, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Asaad Ahmed Nafees, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Unaib Rabbani, Saudi Board Family Medicine, Ministry of Health, Buraidah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Irfan, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Shahla Naeem, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Muhammad Arslan Khan, Aga Khan University
Zafar Fatmi, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Peter Burney, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Document Type

Article

Department

Community Health Sciences; Pulmonary and Critical Care

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.

Comments

Pagination are not provided by the author/publisher

Publication (Name of Journal)

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Recommended Citation

Razzaq, S., Nafees, A. A., Rabbani, U., Irfan, M., Naeem, S., Khan, M. A., Fatmi, Z., Burney, P. (2018). Epidemiology of asthma and associated factors in an urban Pakistani population: Adult asthma study-Karachi. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 18(1), 184.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_chs_chs/749

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.