| Authors | S Montefort P Ellul S Caruana M Montefort H Agius |
| Abstract | The ISAAC [Malta] studies were carried out in 1994 [3506 participants] and 2001 [3800 participants] for the 5 8 yr old age group in randomly selected state primary schools and in 1995 [4184 participants] and 2002 [ 4139 participants] for the 13 15 yr olds in randomly selected state and private secondary schools. The standardised questionnaire included enquiries about place of dwelling and a history of wheezing sometime in the participants life these data were analysed and a comparison was carried out for the two studies to investigate any changes in geographical distribution of wheezers along the years in the Maltese islands In the younger age group where there was an increase of wheezers ever [19.1% in 1994 to 30.2% in 2001] there was an increase in all regions of the Maltese islands but this increase was more pronounced in certain areas. The Northern and Western regions where the highest rates of wheezers lived in 1995 [26% & 22.4%] increased to 30.4% and 26% respectively. However the highest increases in this same period were noted in the Central East [21.8% vs 37..4%], Grand Harbour area [17.5% vs 36.2%], the East [19.4% vs 35.9%] and the Central North [19.6% vs 35.3%]. In the older age group the rate of children who have wheezed sometime in their life remained practically the same [27.9% in 1995 and 27.4% in 2002] but there were some interesting changes in geographical distribution. Whereas there were decreases in rates of wheezers ever in Gozo [ 30.9% vs 19.6%], Central West [31.1% vs 25.7%], Central region [ 30.2% vs 26.9%], West [29.3% vs 24.6%] and South [ 27.1% vs 16.7%], there were substantial increases in the Central South [18.1% vs 29.3%], the Grand Harbour area [27.8% vs 32.2%], Central East [26.6% vs 30.5%] and Northern regions [24.6% vs 27.4%] Although the Central North region showed a slight decrease in prevalence of wheezers ever [ 36.6% vs 36.1%] it maintained its top spot. These changes in geographical distribution of childhood wheezing in Malta lead to a lot of speculation as regards cause and should form the basis for future research in asthma in the Maltese islands . |
Published in: | |
| Journal | Malta Medical Journal |
| Volume | 15 Issue 1-2/suppl. 2003 |
| Pages | - |
| Date | |
| Link to journal | |
| Key words | wheezing, children, geography, asthma |