Prevalence of asthma in Danish children aged 8-10 years

The aim of the study was to estimate the point prevalence of asthma in schoolchildren aged 8-10 y in the County of Copenhagen, Denmark. In all, 1040 schoolchildren were randomly chosen for the study and a total of 774 completed the study. The suspicion of asthma was based on a questionnaire about respiratory symptoms and on daily registration of respiratory symptoms and peak expiratory flow rate (PEF) for 4 weeks. The conclusive diagnosis was based on interview, clinical examination, spirometry and an exercise test. The prevalence of children with asthma diagnosed by their GPs was 31/774 (4.0%). A further 20/774 (2.6%) were diagnosed as having asthma. There is evidence to suggest that asthma is less frequent in Denmark than in Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia.