Risk factors associated with childhood asthma in District Mardan, Pakistan.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of asthma in children aged <10 years, and to identify important risk factors for asthma..

Methods: The case-control study was conducted at Mardan Medical Complex and District Head Quarters Hospital, Mardan, Pakistan, from June to September 2017. Data was collected from paediatric patients of asthma as well as healthy controls through a self-designed questionnaire. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.

Results: Of the 647 subjects, 349(54%) were asthmatic cases and 298(46%) were controls. Among the cases, 201(57.6%) were females, while 148(42.4%) were males. There were 332(51%) subjects whose fathers were smokers, and of them 224(67%) had asthma and 125(37%) were non-asthmatic. Overall, 323(50%) subjects had carpet in their rooms, and of them 221(68%) had asthma. Among other risk factors, subjects aged <5 years had 1.49 time more likely to have asthma with (odds ratio: 1.49, 95% confidence interval: 0.963-1.988).

Conclusions: Female gender, fathers' smoking, having carpet in the room and age <5 year were found to be the main risk factors associated with asthma.