The 2002-2007 trends of prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in Irish schoolchildren.

摘要

Irish adolescents have the third highest asthma prevalence in the world. Few data examine trends of prevalence of asthma and allergic disorders in younger Irish children. We compared the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in school children, aged 6-9 in 2002 and 2007.In two cross-sectional studies, parents of children aged 6-9, completed identical ISAAC-based questionnaires in the same 24 Cork City schools in 2002 (n?=?1474, response rate?=?74.8%) and in 2007 (n?=?1535, response rate?=?76.2%).The prevalence of asthma in our study population of schoolchildren, aged 6-9 remained stable in 2007 (23.5%) since the 2002 finding of 21.7% (p?=?0.27). Significant increases were found in the prevalence of rhino-conjunctivitis (7.6-10.6%, p?=?0.005) and eczema (8.9-13.5%, p?