Prevalence of asthma in a region of Algeria.

In 1984-85 an epidemiological survey on asthma was carried out on a representative population sample in the "Daira de Chéraga" region in Algeria. It had two objectives: to estimate the prevalence of asthma and to describe its epidemiological pattern. The study was divided into two parts: the first was a household survey based on a questionnaire and the second, another interview at hospital, with clinical examination and pulmonary function tests with pharmacodynamic tests. The cumulative prevalence of respiratory symptoms was 2.38%. The cumulative prevalence of asthma was 1.34% and the annual prevalence 1.21%. Asthma was more prevalent in boys than girls aged under 20 years (sex ratio = 2.66) with an equal proportion after age 20 years. Asthma most often occurred in childhood in males and at an adult age in females. In 40% of cases there were family antecedents of asthma. It is impossible to extrapolate these results to the entire country and the existence of regional disparities pleads in favour of further research in this field.