Prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in childhood in an urban area of north-east Italy

In the present study we have assessed the prevalence of asthma-related symptoms in school children resident in the urban area of Verona, in the north east of Italy, as part of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). The entirely of the population of children aged 6-7 yrs (total 2,350, from 64 schools) and 13-14 years (total 2,500 from 42 schools) living in the area was selected. A questionnaire was distributed at school. This was addressed to the parents of the younger population and distributed directly to the older children. In the two groups 2,091 (89%) and 2,179 (87%) questionnaires were returned, respectively. The results obtained show a more frequent history of "wheeling ever" in the young population compared to the older group (23.2 versus 7.9%, respectively) (p < 0.001). There was no difference in the prevalence of wheezing in the last 12 months (7.3 and 7.4%, respectively), and of asthma (4.6 and 3.5%, respectively). In the older group there was a higher incidence of exercise-induced wheezing (12.0 versus 3.2%), which was particularly significant in the females compared to males (14.2 versus 10.0, respectively; p < 0.01). Our data confirm that there is a marked variation in the prevalence of asthma and asthma-related respiratory symptoms in different centres throughout the world, since we obtained a lower percentage of reported symptoms in comparison to other ISAAC centres.