Original ArticlePrevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and pollinosis in a city of Brazil: A monitoring study
Introduction
Allergic respiratory diseases such as allergic rhinitis and asthma are among the most frequent diseases worldwide,1 and co-occurrence of these conditions is often observed in patients.2 Asthma affects approximately 339 million people and is in the top 20 causes of years of life lived with disability.3 In most parts of the world more people are diagnosed with asthma every year, and several contributing factors have been associated to such an increasing trend in the prevalence of asthma.4 For example, a Westernized lifestyle and fast urbanization lead to changes in the environment, changes in diet, greater permanence in closed places, exposure to environmental aeroallergens, and other conditions that have an impact on health conditions such as allergic diseases.1
Although allergies are still attributed mainly to children and adolescents, many adults suffer from allergic disease, however the studies assessing such diseases in adults are rare.4 The appropriate method to estimate trends in prevalence of specific health conditions is to repeatedly survey large random samples in the same area, within the same age-span and with the same validated methods.1, 4
Previous studies have described a high prevalence of allergic rhinitis and pollinosis in specific populations in Southern Brazil, whereas the prevalence of asthma seems to be within the national and international average; these studies were conducted with college students,5 army soldiers,6 adolescents aged 13 and 14 years,7 children 6 and 7 years8 and children and adolescents aged 0–15 years in more vulnerable areas and public health coverage.9 In order to gather more information about respiratory allergic conditions, the present study describes the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and pollinosis in individuals from the municipality of Santo Ângelo, in Southern Brazil, without age restriction, based on the ISAAC questionnaire. Comparing data obtained in 2011 and 2018, the study attempts to show the trends in the prevalence of these conditions in the region.
Section snippets
Study design and selection criteria
The work represents two cross-sectional studies performed in the same location and using the same survey, at two different moments (2011 and 2018). The population was composed of residents of the city of Santo Ângelo, state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Southern Brazil. The municipality of Santo Ângelo is located in the Northwestern part of RS, 28°17′56″S, 54°15′46″W, at an altitude of 285 m. According to the most recent census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the
Results
A total of 3132 individuals were interviewed, and 2882 (92.0%) interviews were validated according to the inclusion criteria, being 1443 in 2011, and 1439 in 2018. Females accounted for 881 (61.1%) and 889 (61.8%) of the validated interviews in 2011 and 2018, respectively. Table 1 presents the distribution of asthma and allergic rhinitis based on affirmative responses to the specific questions contained in the questionnaire.
No significant changes were observed for asthma diagnosis in the years
Discussion
In the present study, the ISAAC questionnaire was adapted to assess symptoms indicative of asthma, rhinitis and pollinosis in people of all ages living in a city in Southern Brazil. Notably, when comparing answers obtained in 2011 and in 2018, we observed a reduction of cases of current rhinitis, diagnosis of allergic rhinitis and pollinosis after a seven-year period, whereas the diagnosis of asthma maintained its prevalence, despite a decrease in reports of current wheeze. In a similar study
Funding and contributors
This work was supported by the research support program of Fundação Regional Integrada (FuRI) from Universidade Regional Integrada (URI).
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest in submission of this manuscript.
Acknowledgements
To each person who gave five minutes of their time to participate in this work.
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