title: Socioeconomic and environmental determinants of adolescent asthma in urban Latin America: an ecological analysis.
abstract: The prevalence of asthma is high in urban areas of many Latin-American countries where societies show high levels of inequality and different levels of development. This study aimed to examine the relationship between asthma symptoms prevalence in adolescents living in Latin American urban centers and socioeconomic and environmental determinants measured at the ecological level. Asthma prevalence symptoms were obtained from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) phase III. A hierarchical conceptual framework was defined and the explanatory variables were organized in three levels: distal, intermediate, proximal. Linear regression models weighed by sample size were undertaken between asthma prevalence and the selected variables. Asthma prevalence was positively associated with Gini index, water supply and homicide rate, and inversely associated with the Human Development Index, crowding and adequate sanitation. This study provides evidence of the potential influence of poverty and social inequalities on current wheezing in adolescents in a complex social context like Latin America.
authors: Universidad Nacional de Lanús, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Gisel Lorena
authors: GL
authors: Fattore
authors: Departamento de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brasil.
authors: Carlos Antonio de Souza Teles
authors: CA
authors: Santos
authors: Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
authors: Mauricio Lima
authors: ML
authors: Barreto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012135:Respiratory Sounds; D012307:Risk Factors; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*