title: Prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in children in a low socio-economic status area of Nigeria.
abstract: METHODS
  Warri and environs in the Niger Delta, in the Southern region of Nigeria.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the burden of respiratory illness in children in the Niger Delta.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of 1397 schoolchildren aged 7-14 years in areas of low socio-economic status (SES), using written questionnaires in English based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, with explanation of symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of doctor-diagnosed asthma was 0.9% (95%CI 0.4-1.3), and wheeze in the last 12 months was 5.4% (95%CI 4.3-6.6). The prevalence of other respiratory symptoms was high, in particular night cough 23.3% (95%CI 21.1-25.5), rhinitis 19.2% (95%CI 17.1-21.3) and phlegm production 16.6% (95%CI 14.7-18.6). Risk of wheeze in the younger age groups was twice (OR 2.09, 95%CI 1.29-3.39) that of older ages after controlling for sex and geographical area. Risk of asthma in urban children was reduced (OR 0.15, 95%CI 0.05-0.50) compared to rural children after controlling for age and sex. Urban children also had a lower risk of rhinitis, exercise limitations and absenteeism due to respiratory illness than rural children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of symptoms of allergic disease was lower than in the African centres in the ISAAC surveys conducted in urban centres. Doctor-diagnosed asthma is likely to be a poor indicator of asthma in low SES areas of developing countries due to health care access issues.
authors.affiliation: MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adetoun Mustapha
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hansell
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data