Respiratory symptoms, physician visits, medication use, and school absence in 8–9 year old children by sex and year of study
| All | Boys | Girls | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | p value* | 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | p value* | 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | p value* | |
| Data are presented as percentages with number of positive responses in parentheses. In the study year 1997 information on sex was not available for one child. Due to missing observations, numbers do not always add up to total. | |||||||||||||||
| *Mantel-Haenszel’s χ2 test for trend. | |||||||||||||||
| **Any one or more of the respiratory symptoms (wheezing, shortness of breath, shortness of breath with wheezing, coughing with phlegm, chronic cough) reported. | |||||||||||||||
| †General practitioner. | |||||||||||||||
| ‡Prescribed by general practitioner or specialist. | |||||||||||||||
| ¶Absence from school for 1 week or more (at least once) in the past year. | |||||||||||||||
| All children | N = 1794 | N = 1526 | N = 1670 | N = 1102 | N = 895 | N = 777 | N = 851 | N = 564 | N = 899 | N = 749 | N = 818 | N = 538 | |||
| Wheezing (past year) | 13.4 (240) | 13.3 (203) | 11.9 (198) | 9.1 (100) | 0.001 | 15.6 (140) | 14.7 (114) | 13.1 (111) | 9.6 (54) | 0.001 | 11.1 (100) | 11.9 (89) | 10.7 (87) | 8.6 (46) | 0.144 |
| Shortness of breath (past year) | 6.5 (116) | 7.9 (121) | 8.3 (138) | 7.9 (87) | 0.077 | 8.2 (73) | 8.1 (63) | 9.1 (77) | 9.4 (53) | 0.304 | 4.8 (43) | 7.8 (58) | 7.5 (61) | 6.4 (34) | 0.139 |
| Shortness of breath with wheeze(past year) | 5.7 (103) | 7.4 (113) | 7.9 (131) | 5.5 (60) | 0.641 | 7.2 (64) | 7.6 (59) | 8.9 (75) | 6.0 (34) | 0.898 | 4.3 (39) | 7.2 (54) | 6.9 (56) | 4.9 (26) | 0.413 |
| Coughing with phlegm (past year) | 3.9 (70) | 4.4 (67) | 3.8 (62) | 3.0 (33) | 0.210 | 5.0 (45) | 4.3 (33) | 3.9 (33) | 3.4 (19) | 0.117 | 2.8 (25) | 4.5 (34) | 3.6 (29) | 2.6 (14) | 0.886 |
| Chronic cough | 2.1 (37) | 2.0 (31) | 2.7 (45) | 1.9 (21) | 0.696 | 2.3 (21) | 1.9 (15) | 3.0 (25) | 2.2 (12) | 0.759 | 1.8 (16) | 2.1 (16) | 2.5 (20) | 1.7 (9) | 0.815 |
| Any respiratory symptom** | 17.4 (313) | 17.1 (260) | 16.1 (259) | 13.5 (146) | 0.007 | 19.8 (177) | 18.0 (139) | 17.3 (141) | 15.0 (83) | 0.022 | 15.1 (136) | 16.2 (121) | 14.9 (118) | 11.9 (63) | 0.119 |
| Children with recent wheeze | N = 240 | N = 203 | N = 198 | N = 100 | N = 140 | N = 114 | N = 111 | N = 54 | N = 100 | N = 89 | N = 87 | N = 46 | |||
| Physician visits (past year)† | 56.7 (136) | 65.0 (132) | 61.9 (120) | 50.0 (50) | 0.589 | 60.0 (84) | 64.9 (74) | 66.7 (72) | 55.6 (30) | 0.961 | 52.0 (52) | 65.2 (58) | 55.8 (48) | 43.5 (20) | 0.437 |
| Medication use (past month)‡ | 39.2 (94) | 54.7 (110) | 54.3 (107) | 56.0 (56) | 0.001 | 42.9 (60) | 54.0 (61) | 57.3 (63) | 64.8 (35) | 0.003 | 34.0 (34) | 55.7 (49) | 50.6 (44) | 45.7 (21) | 0.096 |
| School absence (past year)¶ | 23.8 (57) | 37.3 (75) | 21.6 (42) | 11.1 (11) | 0.011 | 25.0 (35) | 31.9 (36) | 23.1 (25) | 3.7 (2) | 0.008 | 22.0 (22) | 44.3 (39) | 19.8 (17) | 20.0 (9) | 0.353 |