Cross-sectional epidemiological survey of asthma in Jinan, China

The prevalence and control of asthma in all ages are seldom known in Jinan, China. This study aims to determine the prevalence, related factors and control of asthma in populations of all ages in Jinan, China.

A cross-sectional epidemiological questionnaire survey was performed with all members from approximately 4500 randomly selected families from 60 communities in the urban area and in 40 villages in the rural area. The completed questionnaires were focused on asthma, asthma-like respiratory symptoms and asthma control.

A total of 13,645 individuals were interviewed in the survey, and the number of effective questionnaires reached 13,419. The asthma prevalence of all ages in Jinan was 1.1%. Atopy, asthma family history, household size and age were independent factors related to asthma. The control of asthma in Jinan was suboptimal in a high proportion of patients and even worse in the rural area.

The asthma prevalence for all ages in Jinan was relatively low compared with that in western countries; however, local asthma control fell markedly short from the goals of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria for asthma management, which may be attributed to the poor adherence to GINA guidelines, especially the underuse of preventative medication of inhaled corticosteroids.