Investigation of the prevalence and inheritance of bronchial asthma in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba.

A survey of bronchial asthma prevalence and inheritance patterns was carried out in the municipality of San Antonio de los Banõs, La Habana, Cuba, employing as a sample 3,295 of the area's inhabitants. These persons, selected by stratified, non-restricted sampling techniques, represented 11.02 per cent of the total population. The asthma prevalence found in this sample, which was considered representative of the local population, was 9.74 percent. No significant variations were noted in male and female prevalence rates. The occurrence of bronchial asthma is strongly influenced by inheritance. Our survey supported this view, and also showed that the age of asthma onset is influenced by whether or not the subject's family has a positive history of allergy or not. However, patients with a positive history on one side of their family had an age of onset that was not significantly different from patients with a positive history on both sides (p less than 0.35). Overall, the results tend to confirm that the inheritance of bronchial asthma is autosomal and does not conform to simple dominant or recessive inheritance patterns. Rather, asthma inheritance appears multifactorial, perhaps involving varying degrees of expression, indicating that more is involved than absence or deficiency of a single enzyme.