Prevalence and Severity of Asthmatic Symptoms in Grenada

Background: Asthma is the most common childhood disease. Asthma causes inflammation in the airways interrupting the airflow in the bronchi and causes suffocation and wheeling of the chest while breathing. Recent studies suggest that there is no longer an increase in asthmatic patients, but a review study of 2010 suggest that there is an increase in the prevalence of asthma in developing nations. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the connection of asthma and the different regions in Grenada. Methods: The dataset was obtained from datadryad.org and consisted of data of 1374 children between 6 and 7 years of age with 32 attributes each. The analysis was performed using both the SAS and RStudio statistics software. To categorize an individual into the group asthmatic “wheeling in last 12 month” and the physician’s diagnosis were chosen as the parameters. The following procedures were applied: ANOVA, decision tree analysis, logistic regression, and artificial neural networks. Results: A total number of 1088 cases were used for the calculations with 305 considered as asthmatic and 783 as normal cases. The total patient female and male percentage were 28.61% and 33.72%. Using the “last 12 month of wheeling” attribute the parishes with the highest prevalence were St. George, St. David, and St. Andrew and the lowest was Petite Martinique. Using logistic regression these factors could be established to trigger asthma the most: Burning Bush, exercise, and a pet at home. On the other hand an ANOVA analysis suggested landfill as a reason for the trigger. A classification tree analysis found dust and cigarette smoke as primary result. The classification tree analysis on the basis of area and severity showed that St. David, St. George, and Carriacou patients belong to severity level III, while Petite Martinique and St. Patrick patient belong to severity level II and St. Andrew, St. John and St. Mark belong to severity level IV. Of all patients, only 230 saw a physician for their asthma, with an average of 2.82 %