Prevalence and Management of Pediatric Asthma in Urban Versus Rural Settings

Ameer Ali Jamali, Azizullah Langah, Naseer Ahmad Memon, Munawar Ali Siyal,
Karam Khushik and Ali Akbar Siyal

ABSTRACT

Objective: In order to explore differences such as the frequency and treatment of pediatric asthma between urban and rural populations, and to understand what main environmental and healthcare explanatory factors exist.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Pediatrics, Peoples university of Medical Health Sciences Nawabshah from January 2024 to July 2024.

Methods: This study recruited 110 patients with paediatric asthma 55 urban and 55 rural aged between 6 and 12 years. Self-administered questionnaires and chart abstraction were used to obtain demographic, clinical, and health care use information regarding asthma incidence, manifestations, therapeutic management, and utilization of health services. Descriptive quantitative data analysis was done by comparing means using t-tests and comparing frequencies using chi-square tests for rural and urban data. Accepting the significance level of P < 0.05, all analyses were performed using SAS 9.2.

Results: Out of the 110 patients 60% were accorded the disease in urban areas with 40% from rural areas. Means and standard deviations were calculated for the total sample and according to the place of residence: means asthma symptom score for urban children was 7.4 (SD 2.3) and for rural children- 5.6 (SD 1.9). We also found that urban children were more likely to use inhalers (p = 0.04), and rural children had poorer medication compliance (p = 0.03). They also reported the following on healthcare access; children in the urban areas received check-ups as often as recommended (p= 0.01).

Conclusion: Specifically, children who have asthma are more notice and managed well in urban areas than in rural areas. Factors such as inadequate availability of health services and environmental factors accountable for these disparities that suggest the importance of focused efforts to address poor asthma prognosis in rural localized communities.

Key Words: Childhood asthma, urban and rural settings, accessibility to healthcare, factors environmental.

Citation of article: Jamali AA, Langah A, Memon  NA, Siyal MA, Khushik K, Siyal AA. Prevalence and Management of Pediatric Asthma in Urban Versus Rural Settings. Med Forum 2024;35(11):76-80. doi:10.60110/medforum.351116.