Prevalence and Severity of Adolescent Asthma in Yazd, Iran: Based on the 2020 Global Asthma Network (GAN) Survey

Abstract

Asthma, as the most common chronic disease in children, encompasses substantial health and socioeconomic burden worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, severity, and management of asthma in adolescents aged 13-14 years. This cross-sectional study, which was part of the Global Asthma Network (GAN) 2020 survey, was conducted in early 2020 in Yazd, Iran. A total of 48 schools in Yazd city were selected by cluster sampling. In this study, 5141 students, including 3069 (59.7%) females and 2072 (40.3%) males participated. Prevalence of ever and current wheezing was 19% and 9% respectively. The former was significantly higher in males than females (p<0.001). About 2% of the participants, which was 22.1% of students with current wheezing, had severe asthma. The prevalence of severe asthma was significantly higher in males (p=0.026). Our results showed that 4.8% of students had confirmed asthma by a doctor, significantly predominant in males (p<0.001). The prevalence of using inhaled medicines in the past 12 months was 3.8%, which was significantly higher in males than females (p<0.001). The prevalence of using short-acting β-agonists (SABA) and long-acting β-agonists (LABA) was 2.3% and 1.4% among the students, respectively, with a male predominance (p=0.019). About 1.2% and 0.8% of participants were using inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and the combination of ICS and LABA, respectively, which was significantly higher in male participants (p<0.001). According to our findings and in comparison to the previous ISAAC study in Yazd, the prevalence of severe asthma has decreased which indicates better management of asthma during the past two decades.