prevalence of asthma and related symptoms among schoolchildren in dezful city, southwestern iran

Background: asthma is a chronic respiratory disease and a major public health problem globally. this study aimed to determine the prevalence of asthma and related symptoms in schoolchildren in dezful city, southwest iran.methods: in this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, the prevalence of asthma symptoms was measured using a randomized cluster sampling method among 2,978 schoolchildren aged 6-14 years. a validated questionnaire from the international study of asthma and allergies in childhood (isaac) was used from january to february 2020. the chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between variables, which were expressed as percentages, with a p‐value <0.05 considered statistically significant.results: the overall prevalence of asthma was 4.7% (ci=3.98 - 5.54), significantly higher among 13-14-year-olds compared to the 6-7-year-old age group (6.4% vs. 3.1%, p<0.001) and in males versus females (6.9% vs. 2.5%, p<0.001). the total prevalence of wheezing in the last year, the main symptom of asthma, was 7.2% (ci=6.31 - 8.20), significantly higher among 13-14-year-olds (8.4% vs. 6.1%, p<0.009) and male schoolchildren (9.6% vs. 4.7%, p<0.001).conclusion: according to our findings, and compared to the previous isaac study in iran, the prevalence of asthma symptoms was relatively low among dezful schoolchildren.