Air Pollutants, Climate, and the Prevalence of Pediatric Asthma in Urban Areas of China
Table 1
Demographic characteristics of the children surveyed in the 3rd national childhood asthma survey.
Full survey (, total)
Asthmatic patients ( [% of full-survey population])
Number of patients
463,982
13,992 (3.02%)
Gender
Male
241,811
8,495 (3.51%)
Female
222,160
5,089 (2.29%)
Age
Infant (0–2 years)
63,717
1,127 (1.77%)
Preschool (3–5 years)
97,075
4,026 (4.15%)
School age (6–14 years)
303,245
8,429 (2.82%)
Race
Han
433,951
12,997 (3.00%)
Manchus
3,189
87 (2.73%)
Zhuang
4,136
109 (2.64%)
Hui
6,574
157 (2.39%)
Mongolian
1,520
29 (1.91%)
Uygur
1,781
14 (0.79%)
Tibetan
4,346
22 (0.51%)
Inducing factors
(n [% of total asthmatic children])
Respiratory infection
—
12,299 (87.9%)
Climate change
—
7,204 (51.5%)
Exercise
—
3,055 (21.8%)
Clinical features
—
Cough
—
12,771 (91.3%)
Wheezing
—
10,659 (76.2%)
Asthma attacks per year
1–5
—
10,682 (87.7%)
6–10
—
1,227 (10.1%)
>10
—
269 (2.2%)
Allergy history
Personal allergies
—
10,143 (72.5%)
Allergic rhinitis
—
7,010 (50.1%)
Eczema/atopic dermatitis
—
4,147 (29,6%)
Urticaria
—
2,683 (19,2%)
Food allergies
—
2,079 (14.9%)
Family history of allergies
—
6,321 (45.2%)
Family history of asthma
—
2,924 (20.9%)
Therapy
Bronchodilators
—
9,986 (71.4%)
Steroids
—
8,209 (58.7%)
Leukotriene antagonist
—
4,873 (34.8%)
Antiallergic agents
—
6,352 (45.4%)
Antibiotics
—
10,504 (75.1%)
(a) Data from the Chinese Journal of Pediatrics: third-nationwide survey of childhood asthma in urban areas of China, 2013. (b) Data regarding the frequency of asthma attacks was only available for 12,178 (87%) patients in the asthmatic cohort. (c) Data pertaining to the prevalence, age, gender, and race of the asthmatic patients is presented as the percentage of the corresponding population in the full survey. For example, 3.51% of all males surveyed met the criteria for an asthma diagnosis.
