Children in Ireland and Britain are more likely to suffer from asthma than youngsters almost anywhere else in the world, according to a major research study published yesterday.
The Asthma Society of Ireland called for further effort and resources to be put into control of the condition in this country. Asthma affects more than 225,000 people in Ireland, half of those are children, and is believed to cause well over 100 deaths a year.
Society administrator, Mr Oran O Muire, said there should be easier availability of medication and easier access to general practitioners for asthma sufferers without medical cards.
He was not surprised by the findings of the study and said a 1995 international study showed a 15 per cent prevalence of asthma among young Irish teenagers.
The results, published yesterday in the Lancet medical journal, are from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood being conducted in 56 countries.
Researchers led by Prof Richard Beasley, from Wellington, New Zealand, gave 463,801 children aged 13 and 14 a questionnaire about symptoms of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (inflammation of the nasal passages and eyes), and atopic eczema (an allergic skin disorder).
In 42 countries, children were questioned using videos as well as being asked to fill in a written form. For each condition, prevalence over a period of 12 months was calculated. The investigators found enormous variations in incidence, ranging from 20-fold to 60-fold, between different centres.
For asthma, the highest 12month prevalences were from Ireland, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, followed by north, central and south America.
The lowest prevalences were from centres in several eastern European countries, Indonesia, Greece, China, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, India and Ethiopia.
In the case of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, the centres with the highest prevalence were scattered throughout the world.
The highest incidence of atopic eczema also came from scattered centres, including some in Scandinavia and Africa that were not among those with the highest asthma record.
Writing in the Lancet, the researchers said: "The variation in the prevalences of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema symptoms is striking between different centres throughout the world."
The large variations suggested environmental factors were critical to the development of the childhood disorders.
Mr O Muire said the economic burden of asthma was "immense", including days lost from work and school.