title: Asthma symptomatics school children of Sonapur.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bronchial asthma is one of the most common illnesses in children. Factors influencing development of asthma have not been studied in rural population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two thousand school-going children from three schools of Sonapur VDC, Sunsari in the surrounding of industries were screened for the presence of symptoms of asthma using a questionnaire suggested by International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Children (ISSAC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred twenty children were identified with symptoms of bronchial asthma. For each child with asthma two age and sex matched non-asthmatic control were selected from the study population. History, clinical examination and in-depth interview were carried out for all cases and controls. Factors associated with presence of symptoms of asthma on multivariate analysis were: passive smoking (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.85-7.65), pets at home (OR 5.5, 95% CI 1.04-29.15), and absence of windows in living rooms (OR 4.03, 95% CI 1.17-13.79). Factors such as family history of asthma, history of worm infestation, fuel used for cooking, location of kitchen and food allergy were not significant in statistical analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thus, passive smoking, inadequate ventilation and domestic animals and pets (dogs and cats) at home are significant risk factors associated with presence of symptoms of asthma in these children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine and Paediatrics, BP Koirala Institute of Health Science, Dharan, Nepal. maniparash@gmail.com
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Pokharel
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pokharel
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Bhatta
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Erkki
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires