Prevalence of bronchial asthma and respiratory symptoms in a group of students from grodno. An example of standardized epidemiological survey

Introduction: Due to an insufficient knowledge of the real asthma prevalence rate among children and adults in Belarus, we conducted a population-based respiratory health survey.Aim of the study: The study aimed at estimating the prevalence rate of asthma and major respiratory symptoms among students of the Grodno Region (Western Belarus).Material and methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 and included 833 students aged 20-40 (young adults). Physician-diagnosed respiratory diseases and symptoms were ascertained using electronic version of the ISAAC questionnaire (web LimeSurvey).Results: The prevalence of asthma was 2.88% (physician-diagnosed). The obstructive (asthmatic) bronchitis (without established diagnosis of asthma) was found in 5.04% of the respondents. A chronic respiratory symptom occurring in the past 12 months and suggestive of asthma included attacks of dyspnea at rest, cough (5.88%) or in previous periods (8.88%), and wheezing in the chest (one of the most characteristic symptoms of asthma) - 8.04%, which may indicate a higher prevalence of asthma among patients. Wheezing and wheeze without diagnosed asthma, colds or infections were reported in a small number of cases (about 1.0%). 32 respondents (3.84%) can be attributed to the group of risk for asthma due to the presence of specific respiratory symptoms.Conclusions: The findings show a low prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma among students of Western Belarus. Relatively low prevalence of allergic disorders among respondents of Belarus suggest underdiagnosis of allergic diseases, in particular of asthma. Presumably, cases of asthma might be diagnosed as spastic bronchitis, “obstructive bronchitis”, “asthmatic bronchitis”, a traditional label for clinical manifestation of asthma in medical practice in the region.