Prevalence and Impact of Asthma and Allergy on Daily Life, Health Outcomes and Use of Healthcare Services in Children:: A Population-Based Study

• Luis González-de Paz ^[2] ; Laura Valdesoiro-Navarrete ^[3] ; Josep Roma ^[1] ; Esther Blat-Guimerà ^[2] ; Jaume Benavent-Areu ^[2] ; Joan Bartra ^[4] ; Antoni Sisó-Almirall ^[5]
  1. [1] Universitat de Barcelona

     Universitat de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] Consorci d’Atenció Primària de Salut Barcelona Esquerra (CAPSBE), Barcelona, Spain
  3. [3] Department of Pediatric Allergy, Parc Taulí University Hospital, Sabadell, Spain
  4. [4] Department of Allergy, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
  5. [5] Primary Healthcare Transversal Research Group, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain

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• Localización: Archivos de bronconeumología: Organo oficial de la Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica SEPAR y la Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax ( ALAT ), ISSN 0300-2896, Vol. 59, Nº. 8, 2023, págs. 481-487
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Introduction Studies on the prevalence of asthma and allergies often lack representation of the pediatric population, and their impact has not been examined using children without these diseases as a reference group. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of asthma and allergies in children under 14 years old in Spain and their impact on health-related quality of life, activities, healthcare utilization, and environmental and household exposure risk factors.

    Methods Data came from a Spanish population-based representative survey of children aged <14 years (N=6297). A sample of controls (1:4) from the same survey was matched using propensity score matching. Logistic regression models and population-attributable fractions were calculated to determine the impact of asthma and allergy.

    Results The population prevalence of asthma was 5.7% (95% CI: 5.0%, 6.4%), and of allergy was 11.4% (95% CI: 10.5%, 12.4. In children with lower percentiles of health-related quality of life (≤20th), 32.3% (95% CI, 13.6%, 47.0%) was attributed to asthma and 27.7% (95% CI: 13.0%, 40.0%) to allergy. Forty-four percent of restrictions in usual activity were attributed to asthma (OR: 2.0, p-value: <0.001), and 47.9% to allergy (OR: 2.1, p-value: <0.001). 62.3% of all hospital admissions were attributed to asthma (OR: 2.8, p-value: <0.001), and 36.8% (OR: 2.5, p-value: <0.001) of all specialist consults to allergy.

    Conclusions The high prevalence of atopic disease and its impact on daily life and healthcare utilization call for an integrated healthcare system focused on children and caregivers’ needs with continuity of care across education and healthcare settings.