Author/Authors :
Mansouri, Masoume Student Health Services - Health Center of Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran , Sharifi, Farshad Elderly Health Research Center - Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Tabatabaee, Saeed Social Determinants of Health Research Center - Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran , Heidari, Elham Non‑Communicable Disease Research Center - Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Yaghubi, Hamid Department of Psychology - Shahed University, Tehran, Iran , Keshtkar, Abasali Department of Health Sciences Education Development - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Moghadas Tabrizi, Yousef Department of Physical and Sport Medicine Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science - Tehran University, Tehran, Iran , Arzaghi, Masoud Elderly Health Research Center - Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Varmaghani, Mehdi Social Determinants of Health Research Center - Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract :
Background: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease with regressive episodic symptoms.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence of asthma ever (lifetime prevalence of asthma) and the
associated factors among newly entered students in public universities in Iran. Methods: This
population‑based cross‑sectional study was part of the “Mental and Physical Health Assessment of
University Students in Iran.” The target population included all newly admitted students (N = 151,671)
in 74 public universities in 28 provinces (out of the 31 provinces) in Iran. STATA version 12 was
used for calculating the descriptive statistics. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models
were employed to identify relationships between asthma and socioeconomic variables. The level
of significance was set at 95% confidence interval. Results: Of a total of 79,277 participants,
55.23% (n = 43,785) and 44.77% (n = 35,492) were female and male, respectively. The prevalence
of ever asthma among studied student was 1.89%. Of all the participants with asthma, 88.43%
(85.49%–90.84%) were nonsmokers. More than 20% of the subjects were physically inactive.
The respondents who revealed smoking >10 cigarettes/week were about 1.22 (1.036–1.437) times
more likely to suffer from asthma disease (0.017), as compared with those who were not smoking.
Conclusions: Our study provides valuable information about the prevalence of asthma ever
symptoms among university students in Iran. In fact, the results of this study can fill information
gaps concerning the affected groups in Iran, and even worldwide.
Keywords :
students , prevalence , Iran , Asthma
