[Questionnaire-based survey of allergic diseases among children aged 0 - 14 years in the downtown of Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou].
OBJECTIVE
In recent years, the incidence of allergic diseases in China is increasing. With serious influence on the patients' quality of life and even life-threatening, now allergic diseases have become an important public health problem in our country. This survey aimed to obtain a general epidemic outline of children's major allergic diseases, i.e., childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in the downtown of Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou.


METHODS
Childhood asthma questionnaire was established by Delphi method based on guidelines for childhood asthma diagnosis and prevention made by Chinese medical association in 2008 with reference to the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire (ISAAC). This study was carried out from Oct. 2008-Mar. 2009, in Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou by a multi-stage sampling method, covering a sample of 24 290 children aged 0 - 14 years by a multi-stage sampling method, the population of children surveyed in the downtown of Beijing Chongqing and Guangzhou was 10 372, 9874 and 4072 respectively; of whom males were 5545, 5258, 2159, and females were 4917, 4588, 1877; the ratio of males to females in the three cities were 1.11:1, 1.15:1, 1.15:1; the average age of surveyed children were 7.63, 8.74 and 8.30 years old. All the questionnaire was filled in by the parents of children or other guardian of children.


RESULTS
The self-reported prevalence of asthma in Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou was 3.15%, 7.45%, 2.09%, the self-reported prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 14.46%, 20.42%, 7.83%, and the prevalence of eczema was 20.64%, 10.02%, 7.22%. In the survey, asthma combined with allergic rhinitis had the highest rate, 49.54%, 50.14%, 34.83%, respectively in the 3 cities. The self-reported prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis was significantly higher in male than female. Besides, the self-reported prevalences of asthma and allergic rhinitis were relatively lower in children under 1 year and over 10 years of age.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema and other allergic diseases in children 0 - 14 years of age in the three cities gradually increased, and the prevalence of allergic diseases in Chongqing was relatively higher.
Center for Asthma Prevention and Control, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China.
Jing
J
Zhao
Juan
J
Bai
Kun-ling
KL
Shen
Li
L
Xiang
Ying
Y
Huang
Sui
S
Huang
Ai-huan
AH
Chen
Jian-sheng
JS
Wang
Rong-wei
RW
Ye
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002947:Cities; D004485:Eczema / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires