title: Sources and prevalence of self-reported asthma diagnoses in adults in urban and rural settings of Bangladesh.
abstract: This study provides data on the sources of asthma diagnoses in the adult Bangladeshi population in urban and rural settings. The paper also reports the prevalence of self-reported asthma diagnoses and associated socio-demographic factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three communities: two rural settings and one urban setting, with a total sample size of 32,665 subjects. Pre-existing surveillance data provided individual socio-demographic factors. Provider categories were based on previous research describing provider plurality in Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics, univariate regression and multivariate regression analyses were performed. Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) generalists provided the largest proportion of diagnoses in both urban (54.6%) and rural (42.4%) sites. The largest proportion of non-MBBS-trained healthcare workers providing diagnoses of asthma was spiritual healers (13.3%) in the urban settings and village doctors (42.4%) in rural settings. The overall prevalence of self-reported asthma diagnoses was 5.0% in the urban population and 3.5% in the rural population. The results highlight the importance of non-MBBS doctors in serving the healthcare needs of the Bangladeshi population. This study reveals a higher prevalence of self-reported asthma diagnoses in the urban setting than in rural ones, which is consistent with international literature on the topic.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Dhaka, Bangladesh. emily.s.bartlett@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parr
authors.forename: Wietze
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lindeboom
authors.forename: Masuma Akter
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khanam
authors.forename: Tracy Pérez
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Koehlmoos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057566:Self Report; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D026443:Spiritual Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data