title: Symptoms of asthma and associated factors in adolescents from Salvador, Bahia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identify the factors associated with asthma symptoms in adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study with the participation of 1,176 students between the ages of 11 and 17 years old, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The asthma symptoms were identified by using the standardized questionnaire from The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Program (ISAAC), phase III. The subjects' food intake data were collected by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) comprised of 97 food items. All of the information was collected during a single interview. Anthropometric, socioeconomic, and demographic data were collected from the study population. The robust Poisson model was adopted to obtain the raw and adjusted PR (prevalence ratio).
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the total number of adolescents, 57.6% are female and 83.71% of them were between 13 and 17 years old. The prevalence of asthma symptoms was of 7.6%, being higher among males (9.62%). The prevalence of wheezing in the last 12 months was 8.6%. Among the adolescents with rhinitis and eczema, the prevalence of asthma symptoms was of 15.2 and 14.3%, respectively. After an adjusted analysis, the following factors were identified: females PR = 0.64 (95%CI 0.42 - 0.96), rhinitis PR = 3.23 (95%CI 2.17 - 4.83) and the 2nd tertile of the healthy pattern (moderate consumption) PR = 0.61 (95%CI 0.37 - 0.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rhinitis and eczema were presented as risk factors for asthma symptoms. The healthy food intake pattern that had been stratified in tertiles, presented the 2nd tertile as a protector for asthma symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jean Márcia Oliveira
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mascarenhas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciência da Nutrição, Escola de Nutrição, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rita de Cássia Ribeiro
authors.initials: Rde C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciência da Nutrição, Escola de Nutrição, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Marlúcia Oliveira de
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Assis
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciência da Nutrição, Escola de Nutrição, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elizabete de Jesus
authors.initials: Ede J
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Matemática, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jackson Santos
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Conceição
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maurício Lima
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Barreto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D063189:Symptom Assessment