An evaluation of asthma morbidity in Singaporean schoolchildren--a teachers' survey.
Asthma is the most common chronic illness in childhood. This study evaluated the asthma morbidity among Singaporean schoolchildren. The survey involved 1,744 schoolteachers using a structured written questionnaire. 73.4% of class teachers reported at least 1 asthmatic student in their class. 37.1% of teachers had students absent from school for up to 3 days per month and 5.1% missed school for 4 to 14 days in a month. 87.4% of the physical education (PE) teachers reported at least 1 asthmatic student in their class. 65.2% reported an average of 1-3 students sitting out at each PE lesson and 15.1% reported students who were exempted from PE for more than 3 months in a year due to asthma. The morbidity of asthma in Singaporean schoolchildren in terms of school absenteeism and exemption from PE classes is substantial. The data supports a need to improve asthma control amongst our schoolchildren.
Lim
Dawn L C
DL
Department of Paediatrics, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Tan
Teng-Nging
TN
Quek
Chaey-Moon
CM
Wang
Xiao-Shan
XS
Shek
Lynette P C
LP
Lee
Bee-Wah
BW
Goh
Daniel Y T
DY
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D019468:Disease Management; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009017:Morbidity; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D011897:Random Allocation; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric