ABSTRACT

Our study showed that the incidence of wheezing among primary school students was 12.9% Indoor triggers such as humidity, mold and cigarette smoke were reported by the students’ parents. Therefore, especially in low income areas it is very important to educate the parents about indoor triggers.

The number of children who had a wheezing attack at least once and recognised by their families was 10 (11.7%) while nine children had been diagnosed with asthma by a doctor. In the homes of 56 children (65.9%) there was at least one smoker. Four-teen children (16.7%) were exposed to humidity and 15 children (17.6%) had mold in their homes.

In this study, we included parents of 85 primary education students with mean age 9.1% (7-11) settled in a neighbourhood of low income in Ankara. The Questionnaire of the study was based on International Study for Asthma and Allergies in Childhood with 31 questions concerning the symptoms of asthma and things that trigger it.

Asthma is one of the most important chronic diseases of childhood. Parents’ awareness of the symptoms of asthma and what triggers it is necesssary in every step of the diagnosis and treatment.