Socio-environmental conditions and geographical variability of asthma prevalence in Northeast Brazil.

Background: This study aims to evaluate the association between environmental and socio-economic conditions with asthma prevalence in the eight ISAAC centres in North-East Brazil.

Methods: Estimates on occurrence, severity and medical diagnoses of asthma in the previous 12 months were compared using environmental and socioeconomic indicators. Associations were assessed using simple linear regression and Pearson correlation coefficient.