An estimate of the prevalence, severity and seasonality of asthma in visitors to a Ponce shopping center.

To have an estimate of the prevalence of asthma in southern Puerto Rico, a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of three thousand volunteers from southern Puerto Rico was conducted in a shopping center. Individuals were considered asthmatics when they indicated that had consulted their physicians during the previous 12 months for asthma, shortness of breath, accompanied wheezing, and medications had improved their condition. The crude point prevalence of asthma was 17.5 per 100 interviewees. The median age of the asthmatic population was 18 years while in the non-asthmatic it was 26 years of age (p < 0.0001). Males were 22 percent more likely to be asthmatics than females (p = 0.047). Twenty-six percent of the asthmatics reported hospitalizations at least one time, and 56 percent had received medical attention in emergency rooms due to asthma exacerbations. Analysis of the data strongly suggests that the asthma prevalence in southern Puerto Rico may be higher than in other parts of the United States and the rest of the world. This indicates that asthma probably is an important public health problem in the southern Puerto Rico and possibly, in the island.