Prevalence of asthma and some respiratory symptoms in the years 1995 and 2001 in school children from rural regions of Poland

The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of asthma and some respiratory symptoms and diseases in schoolchildren from rural regions of Poland in 2001 and to compare these data with previous estimations in 1995. Repeated cross-sectional epidemiological studies were performed among 594 primary schoolchildren in 1995 and 541 in 2001 using the same standardized questionnaire. Lifetime prevalence of "doctor's-diagnosed asthma" increased significantly from 3.4% in 1995 to 9.6% in 2001. This trend may be due to the real increase in the prevalence of asthma and also may be a result of better physician's diagnosis and/or better parents' health education. A substantial increase of asthma-related symptoms (post-exercise breathlessness, wheezing and dyspnoea) was also observed between these years (8.3-17.7%, 6.2-13.2% and 7.6-13.3%, respectively). These results suggest that asthma in Polish schoolchildren is still underdiagnosed.