Prevalence and risk factors for bronchial asthma in adults in Jaipur district of Rajasthan (India)

No information is available on epidemiology of bronchial asthma in Rajasthan. A field study was therefore, undertaken to estimate prevalence of bronchial asthma and to define the risk factors influencing the disease prevalence in Jaipur district of the state using a previously validated questionnaire. Besides demographic data, information on smoking habits, domestic cooking fuel used, atopic symptoms, and family history suggestive of asthma was also collected. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate odds ratio of various potential risk factors. Data from 8863 respondents (5010 men, 3853 women) were analyzed after excluding children below 15 years of age. One or more respiratory symptoms were present in 5.3% of the subjects. Asthma was diagnosed in 1.86%, 1.44%, 0.51 and 0.38% of the rural male, rural female, urban male and urban female respondents respectively, with an overall prevalence of 0.96%. History of atopy in self and/or history of atopy/asthma in the first-degree relative were found to be the most important risk factor. Advancing age, usual residence in rural area and tobacco smoking, especially hookah smoking, were also associated with significantly higher odds of having asthma