Risk Factors Associated with Childhood Asthma

Asthma is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the world and there are data that asthma prevalence has been increased in last 20 years, especially in children. The Aim of study is to analyze the risk factors that can contribute to asthma prevalence. Method. In the study there were children included, that have been admitted to hospital and after that were followed in regular basis or patients that were referred from other centers. All children with persistent asthma who were followed at least 3 months were included in the study. The collection of data was performed through an interview with parent or caregiver. Results. In our study, we had 158 children with persistent asthma and 51 children with intermittent asthma(control).The mean age is 6.63.The results show that children that have the allergy can develop asthma(p .000),allergy in the family is an important predictor of asthma (p .012) and parents with allergy (p.000),mother education is an important risk factor (p .000) in persistent asthma but not fathers education (p.604). Birth weight under 2500gr and above 2500gr was not a significant risk factor for asthma in our study exclusively breastfeeding in the first 4 months of age is not associated with persistent asthma (p .792). Siblings in the family did not show any significance as a risk factor for asthma(p.433) .Pets in the house did not show any significance in asthma (p.209) in our study too. Conclusion Allergy in a child or in close family presents a high risk for asthma but also maternal education presents a risk factor for asthma prevalence in children. Keywords: child asthma, allergy, maternal education.