Burden of asthma-like symptoms and a lack of recognition of asthma in Vietnamese children
Hong H. T. C. Le, Pham Lê An, Nguyen Nhu Vinh, Robert S. Ware, Dung Phung, Phong K. Thai, Sarath Ranganathan, Trần Ngọc Đăng, Phan Hoang Thuy Dung, Do Thi Hoai Thuong, Hai Phung, Tô Thị Hiền, Peter D. Sly
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Lack of recognition of asthma in childhood results in unmet asthma treatment needs and leads to the risk of sub-optimal respiratory health. The present study assessed the prevalence of asthmatic under-recognition in middle school children in Vietnam. METHODS: We conducted a school-based survey among 15,112 Vietnamese children. Most of them are aged from 13 to 14. Schools and students were recruited using multi-stage sampling. Respiratory symptoms were collected via self-report using a standardized tool from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Under-recognition of asthma was defined as a presence of at least one asthma-like symptom but a negative response to having ever asthma. Associations were investigated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Prevalence of asthma-like symptoms was 27.3% and prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 8.5%. Over 80% of symptomatic children were not diagnosed with asthma. Under-recognition of asthma was found more in girls (adjusted odds ratio; aOR = 1.75; 95%CI: 1.54 to 1.98). CONCLUSIONS: Asthma is significantly under-recognized in Vietnamese middle-school children. Urgent action is required to improve the recognition of asthma in Vietnam.