The changing prevalence of asthma in school children

Abstract

Summary A study of the prevalence of asthma in school children in Birmingham which was first carried out in 1956–57 was repeated in 1968–69. There has been an increase in the prevalence of definitely diagnosed asthma from 1.8% to 2.3%, not including an even higher number of children (3.2%) with wheezing. A considerably higher prevalence in boys than in girls was again found both for definite asthma and for wheezing but the tendency to recovery in boys with definite asthma was slight whereas there was a marked recovery in cases of wheezing which almost certainly represented mild asthma. Negro children born in England had a similar prevalence to European children but children born outside England in the West Indies or in Asia had a significantly lower prevalence of asthma and of wheezing for reasons which are not fully understood but which might profitably be considered further. Asian children, however, appeared to retain their low prevalence of asthma even when born in England.