Asthma in a university campus: a survey of students and staff of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Asthma continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. But, its burden among adult populations in university campuses is not well described. Method: Through a multistage cluster sampling of students and staff of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, we obtained a representative sample, each for students and staff. We administered the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) screening questionnaire to all the respondents. A subgroup did a spirometry test and completed a detailed questionnaire. Asthma was considered “possible”, if a respondent provided affirmative response to symptoms of “wheezing or whistling”, “attack of shortness of breath”, “diagnosed attack of asthma” in the last 12 months or “currently taking medicines for asthma”. Results: From population of 13 750 students and 1428 staff of the university, we systematically sampled 2750 (20%) students and all the staff. Amongst these, 2372 students and 455 staff completed the screening questionnaire. The mean age (SD) of the responders was 21.9 (3.2) and 46.1 (8.9) for students and staff and most of them were men; 58.6% and 65.9%, respectively. While an estimated 2.6% (95% CI: 1.7–3.5) of students had an asthma attack in the preceding 12 months, 14.5% (95% CI: 12.5–16.5) and 25.2% (95% CI: 22.8–27.7) reported shortness of breath and nocturnal cough, respectively. The staff population reported fewer symptoms. The proportion with “possible asthma” was 18.2% (95% CI: 16.0–20.4) for students and 8.0% (95% CI: 5.4–10.7) for staff. Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma is high among students and staff of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.

• Asthma
• epidemiology
• Nigeria

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the invaluable comments from William Beckett of Harvard Medical School, Boston, in the writing of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

We wish to thank the University Research Committee of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria for sponsoring this project. The sponsor had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.