Resumen de Incidence of asthma in young adults from Castellon, Spain: A prospective cohort study
L. Segura Navas, Alberto Arnedo Pena, R. Tosca Segura, María Angeles Romeu García, Noemí Meseguer Ferrer, E. Silvestre Silvestre, F. Conde, S. Fernández-González, Mª A. Dubon, M.P. Ortuño, J. Fabregat Puerto, C. Fenollosa Amposta, M. Rosario Pac Sa, L. Museros Recatala, Ana Vizcaino Batllés, Juan B. Bellido Blasco
Background The objective was to estimate the incidence of asthma in young adults from 13–15 years old to 23–25 years old, and associated factors.
Methods In 2012, a population-based prospective cohort study was carried out in Castellon from the cohort who had participated in the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood in 1994 and 2002. A telephone survey was undertaken using the same questionnaires. A new case of asthma was defined as a participant free of the disease in 2002 who suffered asthma, was diagnosed with asthma, or took medications against asthma based on self-report from 2002 to 2012.
Results The mean age of participants was 24.9 ± 0.6 with a follow-up of 79.1%. Asthma cumulative incidence was 3.4%: 44 new cases occurred among 1280 participants. The incidence was higher in females than males with relative risk (RR) = 2.02 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–3.8). A significant decrease of asthma incidence density was observed (8.2 cases to 3.5 cases per 1000 person/year). Factors associated with the incidence of asthma were allergic rhinitis (RR = 4.05; 95% CI 1.7–9.6), bronchitis (RR = 2.13; 95% CI 1.0–4.5), mother's age at time of birth (RR = 0.87; 95% CI 0.8–0.9) and a pet other than a dog or cat (RR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.2–0.9). For gender, some variations in the risk factors were observed.
Conclusions A significant decrease in the incidence of asthma was observed. Several risk and protective factors were found.
