The incidence of asthmatic attacks in Barbados

Asthma is a chronic disease in Barbados with a mean of 10,348 cases per year. This study was undertaken to determine the demographic distribution of the asthmatic attacks, their relationship with several meteorological variables and to provide a predictive equation. The study used data on asthmatic attacks provided by the Accident and Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and meteorological data from the Barbados Meteorological Office and the Caribbean Institutefor Meteorology and Hydrology. The study found that the greatest number of asthmatic attacks occurred in children aged five years or younger, that there was an exponential decrease in asthmatic attacks with age, that the incidence was higher on the eastern side of the island and that there was a higher incidence in males than in females. The statistical analysis found the highest correlations with vapour pressure and a three-week lag relationship between vapour pressure and asthmatic attacks. A stepwise regression analysis provided a predictive equation.