RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prevalence of asthma and allergies in the Greek (G/C) and Turkish (T/C) communities in Cyprus
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP p1173
VO 38
IS Suppl 55
A1 Demetris Lamnisos
A1 Ourania Kolokotroni
A1 Huseyin Koksoy
A1 Nicos Middleton
A1 Kenan Arifoglou
A1 Muharem Faiz
A1 Panayiotis Yiallouros
YR 2011
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1173.abstract
AB Background: The G/C and T/C communities have been living apart for more than 30 years, with the former presumably leading a more westernised lifestyle.Aim: To estimate the prevalence of allergic diseases in both communities and investigate whether any lifestyle characteristics underlie the observed differences.Methods: The ISAAC questionnaire enriched with questions on lifestyle was completed for 10156 children aged 7-8 and 13-14 years. Odds ratios of asthmatic and allergic symptoms between communities were estimated after controlling for potential risk factors in multiple logistic regression models.Results: With the exception of eczema, slightly but consistently lower prevalence was observed for all other outcomes among G/C community in both age-groups. The prevalence of wheezing among 7-8 year-olds was 8.7% vs 11.4% (OR=0.74, p<0.01). Family history of atopy and early nursery attendance were elevated amongst the G/C. Other favourable factors as projected in the hygiene hypothesis were more frequent in the T/C community, including higher proportion in less urban areas (60% vs 34%), bedroom sharing (52% vs 37%) and exposure to farm animals (4.7% vs 0.6%). The same picture emerged in the 13-14 year old group. Controlling for participants' characteristics did not overturn the observed pattern in terms of community in either age-group e.g. the adjusted OR for wheezing remained at 0.73 (p=0.03) in the younger age-group.Conclusions: Observed differences in the prevalence of risk factors between the two communities did not account for the lower prevalence of asthma and allergies among G/C children, suggesting that other factors not related to the hygiene hypothesis might be at play.