Prevalence of asthma among German adults: analysis of the German National Telephone Survey.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of asthma in German adults.


METHODS
This analysis used data of 8,318 German adults 18 years of age and older who had participated in the German National Telephone Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional study.


RESULTS
The overall lifetime prevalence of asthma in German adults was 5.7%. It ranges between 4.3% in East and 6.0% in West Germany. Logistic regression analysis showed that asthma was associated with unemployment, younger age, and living in West Germany.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides further evidence that differences exist in the prevalence of asthma between East and West Germany.
Hoffmann
Falk
F
University of Bremen, Drug Utilization Research Unit, Bremen, Germany. hoffmann@zes.uni-bremen.de
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking