Evaluate the prevalence of bronchial asthma symptoms in Afyonkarahisar

Background and Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of bronchial asthma symptoms in Afyonkarahisar and the prevalence of symptoms related with asthma.Methods: The study was conducted thorugh 75 screening region in the period between November 2005 and February 2006. Only one person over 18 years of age from each family was randomly selected depending on population of the region by inhabitant indendificationt chart. A screening questionnaire for asthma based on the European Community Respiratory Health Survey was applied to persons aged 18 years and older. 109 person, who accepted further evaluation were recruited to the study. In addition to pulmonary function tests, reversibility tests and metakolin provocation tests were performed on these people.Results: The mean age was 47.9±13.1 (19-90) years, and 58.6% of the patients were female and 41.4% were male. Current smokers were 15.6% of the subjects whereas ex-smokers and passive smokers were 10.1% and 74.3%, respectively. 32.1% of the patients gave a history of long-term wood-smoke exposure. Asthma pozitif and asthma negatif patients who gave a history of long-term wood-smoke exposure, this difference was statistically significant (p=0.041). Pulmonary function tests parameters were statistically significant in asthma pozitif patients.Conclusions: The most frequent symptoms were dispne (48.8%) in the population adults 18 years and older in Afyonkarahisar. It was seen that asthma like symptoms and prevalence of astma symptoms more frequent in females. Astma symtom prevalence in Afyonkarahisar was similar to results obtained from other regions of Turkey.