[Prevalence of asthma in adults in Menda town rural-mountain area in Japan].
Several reports have suggested that the prevalence of asthma in adults is currently increasing. However, recent prevalence of asthma has not reported in Japan, especially in rural-mountain areas. To investigate the prevalence of asthma in adults in Japan, we conducted clinical epidemiological research on 5066 inhabitants of Menda town, in a rural-mountain area of Japan. The study population comprised 98.7% of adults in the town, including senior high school students whose age were more than 15 years old. The prevalence of asthma among adults was 3.6%. The ratio of prevalence in males to prevalence in females was 1.44. Peaks prevalences were observed in the age ranges of 15-19 and > 70 years old in males, and 15-19, 40-49 and > 70 years old in females.
Hirayama
S
S
First Department of Internal Medicine, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto, Japan.
Kohrogi
H
H
Ueda
A
A
Kiyofuji
C
C
Hirata
N
N
Fujii
K
K
Goto
E
E
Fujita
K
K
Tsumori
K
K
Hirosako
S
S
Noguchi
D
D
Kawano
O
O
Ando
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data