PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sotirios Fouzas
AU  - Panagiotis Lampropoulos
AU  - Georgios-Zacharias Zantopoulos
AU  - Olga Lagiou
AU  - Maria Triga
AU  - Kostas N. Priftis
AU  - Michael B. Anthracopoulos
TI  - Secular trends in the prevalence of childhood asthma and allergy between 1991 and 2013 in Greece: Towards an asthma-allergy dissociation?
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1188
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1188.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1188.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Background: The prevalence of childhood asthma has risen between 1991 and 2003 and reached a plateau between 2003 and 2008 in the city of Patras, Greece. Within the same 22-year period, there was a continuous increase in the prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) and eczema (E). We examined the prevalence of asthma and allergy in the same urban environment in 2013.Methods: A cross-sectional parental questionnaire survey was performed in 2013 among 8-9 year-old schoolchildren (n=2554) using methodology identical to the surveys conducted in 1991 (n=2417), 1998 (n=3076), 2003 (n=2725) and 2008 (n=2688).Results: The prevalence of current asthma was 4.6% in 1991, 6.0% in 1998, 6.9% in 2003, 6.9% in 2008, and declined to 5.2% in 2013 (P for 2008-13 decrease 0.013). Respective values for allergic disorders (RC and/or E) were 5.9%, 8.8%, 12.0%, 14.5% and 16.4% (P for trend <0.001). Allergic asthma (asthma associated with any allergy) as percentage of current asthma, increased from 17.9% in 1991 to 55.7% in 2008, but decreased to 41.0% in 2013 (P for decrease <0.001). Similarly, the risk for asthma in allergic children increased continuously from 3.5 (2.2-5.4) in 1991 to 7.4 (5.8-9.2) in 2008, and declined to 3.3 (2.2-4.9) in 2013.Conclusions: The prevalence of childhood asthma decreased between 2008 and 2013 in the city of Patras, Greece. Although the prevalence of allergic disorders continued to rise during the same period, the contribution of allergy and the risk of asthma among allergic children decreased.