title: First report of asthma prevalence in Afghanistan using international standardized methods.
abstract: No data on the prevalence of asthma in Afghanistan have been published before. In a school-based survey in 2010-2011 the wheezing section of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire was completed by a random sample of 1500 children aged 6-7 years and 1500 adolescents aged 13-14 years old. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 12.5% in 6-7-year-olds and 17.3% in 13-14-year-olds (P = 0.002). The prevalence of wheeze in the last 12 months was similar in children and adolescents (19.2% and 21.7% respectively). The prevalence of ever wheezing, night attacks, speech-limiting wheeze and exercise-induced wheeze was 23.1%, 4.8%, 12.2% and 9.6% respectively in children and 30.5%, 4.4%, 13.0% and 13.6% respectively in adolescents. These rates are higher than those in neighbouring countries. This first epidemiological survey of asthma in Afghanistan shows that asthma and wheezing are common in Kabul students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bemanin
authors.affiliation: Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. fallahpour.morteza@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fallahpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nabavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yousofi
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shariatifar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000346:Afghanistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires