National survey of prevalence of asthma among children in the United States, 1976 to 1980.

TLDR

Asthma is defined as physician‑diagnosed disease or frequent wheezing in the past year, excluding colds or flu. The study used data from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to assess asthma prevalence among children and adolescents aged 3–17. Asthma prevalence rose from 4.8 % to 7.6 % among 6‑11‑year‑olds between surveys, with an overall 6.7 % prevalence that was higher among black children, boys, and urban residents, and was associated with other allergies and early onset, but not socioeconomic status.

Abstract

The trend in the prevalence of reported asthma was determined from data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. The reported prevalence of ever having asthma increased among 6- to 11-year-old children between the first (1971 to 1974) and second (1976 to 1980) National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (4.8% to 7.6%, P less than .01). The epidemiology of asthma among children and adolescents 3 to 17 years of age in the United States was examined using data collected in the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In this paper, asthma is defined as current disease diagnosed by a physician and/or frequent trouble with wheezing during the past 12 months, not counting colds or the flu. Asthma was reported for 6.7% of youths overall and was higher in black than white children (9.4% v 6.2%, P less than .01), boys than girls (7.8% v 5.5%, P less than .01), and urban than rural areas (7.1% v 5.7%, P less than .05). Asthmatic children had a higher prevalence of other allergies (42.6% v 13.2%, P less than .01) and of allergen skin test reactivity (44.5% v 20.7%, P less than .01) than nonasthmatic children. Most asthmatics had their first asthmatic episode before their third birthday. No effect of socioeconomic status on the prevalence of asthma was noted.