title: Prevalence of childhood asthma in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2009.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bronchial asthma is a common but important chronic disease in children in all over the world. To take measures against prevalence of childhood asthma, many researchers have surveyed the actual statuses of childhood asthma in developed countries, but in most Asia-Pacific developing countries including Mongolia such surveys have never been sufficiently conducted until now. We have thought that this survey, though performed in 2009, will give important and meaningful information even now in taking measures to prevent prevailing bronchial asthma in children in Mongolia or the countries under similar statuses.
  
  
  METHODS
  The asthma prevalence and patient background information in Mongolian children aged 6-7 living in Ulaanbaatar were examined using a written questionnaire modified for their parents from that prepared by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The estimated prevalence of asthma in Mongolian children was 20.9%. The following 3 risk factors were found to be related to asthma: (1) having allergic rhinitis symptoms, (2) mothers' smoking, and (3) history of severe respiratory infection before 1-year-old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The asthma prevalence in Mongolian children was higher than that in the world and Asia-Pacific countries reported by ISAAC. The higher prevalence was probably attributable to households' (especially mothers) smoking in draft-free houses designed for the cold area and severe air-pollution due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in Mongolia. Smoking prohibition in the mother (including family members) and a reduction of exposure to air pollutants are urgently needed to prevent developing childhood asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan; World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan. Electronic address: shigemi@dokkyomed.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, School of Bio-Medicine, Health Sciences University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Sonomjants
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Munkhbayarlakh
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Sohei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Clyde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Bio-Medicine, Health Sciences University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Narantsetseg
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Logii
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, School of Bio-Medicine, Health Sciences University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Sarangerel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dashdemberel
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan; The Division of Respiratory and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sagara
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan; Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Arisaka
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008986:Mongolia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Air-pollution; Childhood asthma; Epidemiology; Household smoking; Interview survey in Mongolia