title: Environmental factors and asthma and allergy in schoolchildren from Western Australia.
abstract: The association of environmental factors with atopic disease in children remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between socio-environmental factors and symptoms of asthma and atopy in 6-7-yr-old children assessed as an adjunct to Phase I of the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood in Perth, Western Australia. Parental questionnaire responses were obtained for 2,193 children (73.6%) in 34 randomly selected primary schools in the Perth metropolitan area. Children born in Australia had a significantly increased risk of current asthma (odds ratio (OR) 237, p = 0.001). Having a mother born in Australia was the only factor independently associated with an increased risk of current hay fever (OR 1.56, p = 0.005). Increasing numbers of people living in the home were significantly associated with a multiplicative decrease in risk of current asthma (OR 0.88, p = 0.03) and eczema (OR 0.82, p = 0.01). Houses made of fibrocement (OR 2.40, p = 0.02) and the presence of mats on less than half of the floor area in the "main bedroom" (relative to wall-to-wall carpet) (OR 3.50, p = 0.003) were associated with an increased risk of current eczema. All reported associations were independent of socioeconomic status (categorized by school), age and sex. This study suggests that household and country-specific environmental factors are associated with asthma, hay fever and eczema risk in 6-7-yr-old schoolchildren, and may have substantially contributed to the increased prevalence of these diseases in Australia.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Paediatrics, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Valinsky
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pikora
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Zubrick
authors.forename: L I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Landau
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012130:Respiratory Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology