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. 2019 Nov 15:8:e49496.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.49496.

Risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren who participated in a case-control study in urban Uganda

Harriet Mpairwe  1 , Milly Namutebi  1 , Gyaviira Nkurunungi  1 , Pius Tumwesige  1 , Irene Nambuya  1 , Mike Mukasa  1 , Caroline Onen  1 , Marble Nnaluwooza  1 , Barbara Apule  1 , Tonny Katongole  1 , Gloria Oduru  1 , Joseph Kahwa  1 , Emily L Webb  2 , Lawrence Lubyayi  1 , Neil Pearce  2 , Alison M Elliott  1   2
Affiliations

Risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren who participated in a case-control study in urban Uganda

Harriet Mpairwe et al. Elife. .

Abstract

Data on asthma aetiology in Africa are scarce. We investigated the risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren (5-17 years) in urban Uganda. We conducted a case-control study, among 555 cases and 1115 controls. Asthma was diagnosed by study clinicians. The main risk factors for asthma were tertiary education for fathers (adjusted OR (95% CI); 2.32 (1.71-3.16)) and mothers (1.85 (1.38-2.48)); area of residence at birth, with children born in a small town or in the city having an increased asthma risk compared to schoolchildren born in rural areas (2.16 (1.60-2.92)) and (2.79 (1.79-4.35)), respectively; father's and mother's history of asthma; children's own allergic conditions; atopy; and cooking on gas/electricity. In conclusion, asthma was associated with a strong rural-town-city risk gradient, higher parental socio-economic status and urbanicity. This work provides the basis for future studies to identify specific environmental/lifestyle factors responsible for increasing asthma risk among children in urban areas in LMICs.

Keywords: Uganda; asthma; case-control study; early life; epidemiology; global health; human; risk factors; schoolchildren.

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Conflict of interest statement

HM, MN, GN, PT, IN, MM, CO, MN, BA, TK, GO, JK, EW, LL, NP, AE No competing interests declared

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Participant flow diagram for an asthma case-control study, conducted among 1670 schoolchildren aged 5–17 years, between 2015 and 2017 in Uganda.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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