Status of asthma control in children and the effect of parents' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in China: a multicenter study.
BACKGROUND
Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease seriously endangering the health of children. But disease awareness and self-management skills are relatively poor in children; parents play an important role in the control of childhood asthma.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the status of asthma control and severity of asthma in children and to identify impact factors.


METHODS
We studied 1 tertiary hospital in each of the 29 provinces. A total of 2,960 parents with children with asthma who visited those hospitals were selected for the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) questionnaire survey, and separated into the controlled asthma group and uncontrolled asthma group according to children's asthma conditions in the past 12 months. Multivariate analysis was carried out based on the answers to 28 tested factors.


RESULTS
In the past 12 months, 66.0% of children with asthma had asthma attacks, 26.8% visited an emergency room, and 16.2% were hospitalized. The total cost for asthma was significantly higher in the uncontrolled group than controlled group (χ(2) = 23.14, P < .01). Twelve protective factors of asthma control were founded, such as older age of children, long disease course, high KAP scores of parents, compliance with using nasal steroids, and knowledge of "3 or more times recurrent wheezing suggesting asthma." The risk factors were eczema and family history of asthma.


CONCLUSIONS
Children's asthma is poorly controlled. The cost of asthma is significantly higher in uncontrolled asthma than in controlled. The age of children, course of asthma, personal history of allergy, family history of asthma, parents' education level, and parents' KAP are factors that affect asthma control.
Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China. janezhao0607@yahoo.com
Jing
J
Zhao
Qianqian
Q
He
Guoqing
G
Zhang
Qiyi
Q
Chen
Juan
J
Bai
Ying
Y
Huang
Qiang
Q
Chen
Chen
C
Ni
Sui
S
Huang
Suping
S
Tang
Yun
Y
Li
Huacheng
H
Zheng
Boping
B
Bin
Shi
S
Chen
Xiaoping
X
Zhu
Changshan
C
Liu
Shanmei
S
Zhang
Yajing
Y
Zhang
Xiaoqin
X
Zhou
Rongjun
R
Lin
Shiwu
S
Zhao
Chuangli
C
Hao
Mengrong
M
Li
Jun
J
Sun
Yunzhu
Y
Li
Fenhua
F
Chen
Zhaobo
Z
Shen
Wei
W
Hou
Huanji
H
Cheng
Yun
Y
Gao
Mingjie
M
Ding
Yan
Y
Huang
Yunxiao
Y
Shang
Yaping
Y
Chen
Lanfang
L
Cao
Li
L
Cheng
Cilin
C
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires