title: Knowledge of asthma in school teachers in nine Spanish cities.
abstract: To analyze the knowledge of asthma and its management in Spanish school teachers using the Newcastle Asthma Questionnaire (NAKQ).
  
  
  
  Descriptive, observational prevalence study, using a self-report questionnaire on knowledge about childhood asthma and its management by teachers in pre-school, primary, and secondary schools in nine Spanish cities. Age, sex, academic training, teaching experience, courses in which they taught, and personal and family history of asthma, were collected from each teacher. For knowledge determination, the validated Spanish version of the NAKQ was used.
  
  
  
  A total of 208 centers participated, including 7,494 teachers. The questionnaire was completed by 4,679 teachers (62.4%). The mean score of correct responses was 16.0 ± 4.8 points out of 31 (median = 17, range: 0-30). Only 6.8% of teachers were capable of pointing out the three main symptoms of the disease; 1.5% knew the triggering factors of an asthma attack; 8.6% knew two medicines useful during an asthma attack; 32.7% knew that inhaled medications had less side effects than pills, and only 3.8% knew of ways to prevent asthma attacks during exercise. In the multivariate analysis, variables significantly associated with a higher questionnaire score were a "lower age" (Beta coefficient = -0.09), "male gender" (Beta = 0.77), "being asthmatic" (Beta = 2.10), or "having close relatives with asthma" (Beta = 1.36) and "teaching in a private school" (Beta = 0.66) or in "compulsory secondary education" (Beta = 0.59).
  
  
  
  Teachers have a low level of knowledge about asthma, with an important limitation in some aspects of the disease. They should be trained to recognize the main symptoms of the disease, on how to act in the event of symptoms, and the early identification of situations in which the pupils require health care assistance. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016;51:678-687. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Fundación María José Jove, Health Centre "El Castrillón", A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel López-Silvarrey
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago Rueda
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Research Group, Hospital Universitario A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Sonia Pértega
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Donostia, San Sebastian, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier Korta
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Murúa
authors.affiliation: Health Centre "La Cuesta", Tenerife, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen Rosa Rodríguez
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Fernández-Oliva
authors.affiliation: Hospital San Jaime de Calella, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Sánchez
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Health Centre of La Eliana, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: María Isabel Ubeda
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Sansano
authors.affiliation: Health Centre Zona Centro, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José Morell
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bernabé
authors.affiliation: Fundación María José Jove, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Bárbara Iglesias
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Pneumology, Hospital Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Máximo Martínez
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Pneumology, Hospital Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: Juana María Román
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Piñana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002947:Cities / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000070777:School Teachers; D012574:Schools; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: asthma; knowledge; teachers