Emerging asthma in the Okapa district of the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea: the problem and its implications.
This study found a high prevalence of asthma in 1800 residents of eight villages of the South Fore people in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The prevalence in adults (7%) is amongst the highest reported in the world, but the disease is practically absent in children. Whilst the features of the disease are similar to those previously described for asthma in Papua New Guineans, the prevalence is very much higher. Evidence from medical officers and the indigenous population indicates that the disease has only become noticeably prevalent in this area within the last decade, about two decades after first contact with Europeans. The asthma is associated with considerable impairment of resting lung function and is an important source of morbidity and more recently of mortality in these villages. Treatment is unsatisfactory because of both logistic and financial constraints. There is an urgent need for further epidemiological studies of asthma in both the Eastern Highlands Province and elsewhere in the country.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012882:Skin Tests