Household reporting of childhood respiratory health and air pollution in rural Alaska Native communities

Figures & data

Table I. Reporting of respiratory conditions in previous 12 months among all children

	Children aged<5 years					Children aged 5 to 17 years
	Region 1		Region 2			Region 1		Region 2
	n	Number positive (%)	n	Number positive (%)	p*	n	Number positive (%)	n	Number positive (%)	p*
Flu	136	65 (47.8)	20	7 (35.0)	0.28	337	123 (36.5)	66	21 (31.8)	0.47
Cold	136	111 (81.6)	20	16 (80.0)	0.77	337	226 (67.1)	66	49 (74.2)	0.25
Throat infection	136	31 (22.8)	20	6 (30.0)	0.57	337	141 (41.8)	66	26 (39.4)	0.71
Ear infection	136	66 (48.5)	20	9 (45.0)	0.77	337	54 (16.0)	66	6 (9.1)	0.15
Bronchitis	136	33 (24.3)	20	1 (5.0)	0.08	337	39 (11.6)	66	4 (6.1)	0.19
Pneumonia^a	131	25 (19.1)	20	0 (0.0)	0.05	336	31 (9.2)	66	1 (1.5)	0.03
Respiratory Hospital/ED^b	136	33 (24.3)	20	3 (15.0)	0.60	337	71 (21.1)	66	14 (21.2)	0.98

^aFive responses missing for Region 1 children aged<5 years (n=131), and 1 response missing for Region 1 children aged 5 to 17 years (n=336).

^bReported for lifetime rather than previous 12 months.

*p value obtained from chi-square test or Fisher's exact test when necessary.

Table II. Reporting of asthma and respiratory symptoms among Alaska Native children aged<18 years by region

	Region 1		Region 2
	n	Number positive (%)	n	Number positive (%)	p*
Reported asthma	471	36 (7.6)	86	8 (9.3)	0.60
Physician diagnosed^a	36	34 (99.4)	8	7 (87.5)	0.75
Current asthma medication^a	36	11 (30.6)	8	6 (75.0)	0.03
Wheezing	473	70 (14.8)	85	5 (5.9)	0.03
Cough at night	473	117 (24.7)	86	18 (20.9)	0.45
Stuffy or runny nose, or sinus congestion	473	184 (38.9)	86	28 (32.6)	0.26
Watery, itchy or irritated eyes	471	55 (11.7)	86	14 (16.3)	0.23
Productive cough	473	85 (18.0)	86	17 (19.8)	0.69

^aQuestion only asked about children with reported asthma.

*p value shown for chi-square test, or Fisher's exact when necessary, comparing responses across regions.

Table III. Odds ratios (OR, 95% CI) for respiratory infections and household variables among children aged<5 years in Region 1

	n	Pneumonia	Bronchitis	Flu	Cold	Throat infection	Middle-ear infection
Crowding
< 2.5	84	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
≥ 2.5	49	1.1 (0.4, 2.9)	1.1 (0.5, 2.7)	0.8 (0.4, 1.7)	0.4 (0.2, 1.1)	1.1 (0.5, 2.7)	0.5 (0.2, 1.1)
Heating^a
Fuel oil only	50	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Fuel oil + woodstove	53	1.1 (0.3, 3.5)	0.7 (0.3, 2.2)	1.6 (0.7, 3.7)	4.1 (1.2, 14.3)*	1.2 (0.5, 3.1)	1.2 (0.5, 2.6)
Woodstove only	25	2.1 (0.6, 7.2)	2.0 (0.7, 6.3)	1.0 (0.3, 3.1)	1.8 (0.5, 6.3)	1.9 (0.6, 6.1)	1.7 (0.7, 4.4)
Household smoker
No	64	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	70	1.2 (0.5, 3.0)	1.6 (0.7, 3.7)	1.3 (0.6, 2.8)	1.4 (0.5, 3.5)	1.3 (0.6, 3.0)	0.8 (0.4, 1.6)
Age of house
Built 1985 or later	75	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Built before 1985	53	1.2 (0.4, 3.1)	0.2 (0.1, 0.6)*	1.2 (0.5, 2.6)	0.2 (0.1, 0.7)*	1.3 (0.6, 3.0)	0.6 (0.3, 1.3)
Presence of mould^b
No	101	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	35	1.3 (0.5, 3.5)	1.7 (0.6, 4.3)	2.5 (1.0, 6.1)	2.4 (0.6, 8.7)	1.8 (0.7, 4.5)	2.2 (1.0, 5.0)
Concern of outdoor smoke^b
No	115	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	21	1.8 (0.6, 5.6)	1.8 (0.6, 4.8)	1.3 (0.5, 3.6)	0.9 (0.2, 3.7)	1.4 (0.5, 4.4)	1.9 (0.7, 5.4)
Change – Ventilation/purification^b
No	104	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	32	1.9 (0.7, 5.3)	0.5 (0.1, 1.5)	1.1 (0.5, 2.7)	0.7 (0.2, 2.0)	2.2 (0.9, 5.5)	0.8 (0.3, 1.7)

n=number of children; OR=odds ratio; CI=confidence interval.

^aDoes not include 8 children in homes with other type of heating.

^bThese non-mutually exclusive categories are based on open-ended comments by participants.

*p<0.05.

Table IV. Odds ratios (OR, 95% CI) for respiratory infections and household variables among children aged 5 to 17 years in Region 1

	n	Pneumonia	Bronchitis	Flu	Cold	Throat infection	Middle-ear infection
Crowding
< 2.5	178	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
≥ 2.5	156	1.7 (0.8, 3.5)	1.0 (0.5, 1.9)	0.8 (0.5, 1.4)	0.8 (0.4, 1.3)	1.0 (0.6, 1.7)	0.9 (0.6, 1.4)
Heating^a
Fuel oil only	130	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Fuel oil + woodstove	131	0.8 (0.3, 1.8)	0.7 (0.3, 1.4)	1.2 (0.7, 2.2)	1.5 (0.8, 2.7)	0.9 (0.5, 1.5)	1.3 (0.8, 2.1)
Woodstove only	60	1.5 (0.6, 4.0)	1.5 (0.7, 3.3)	1.0 (0.5, 2.3)	1.0 (0.5, 2.0)	1.5 (0.8, 3.0)	1.2 (0.6, 2.3)
Household smoker
No	180	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	156	1.3 (0.6, 2.6)	1.4 (0.8, 2.5)	1.8 (1.1, 3.0)*	1.2 (0.7, 1.9)	1.4 (0.9, 2.2)	1.0 (0.7, 1.6)
Age of house
Built 1985 or later	186	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Built before 1985	140	1.2 (0.6, 2.5)	0.6 (0.3, 1.1)	1.2 (0.7, 2.0)	0.9 (0.5, 1.6)	0.9 (0.6, 1.5)	0.9 (0.5, 1.3)
Presence of mould^b
No	234	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	103	1.6 (0.5, 2.3)	1.6 (0.9, 3.0)	2.0 (1.1, 3.7)*	1.7 (0.9, 3.3)	1.6 (1.0, 2.8)	1.8 (1.2, 2.7)*
Concern of outdoor smoke^b
No	271	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	66	1.5 (0.6, 3.7)	1.4 (0.7, 2.8)	1.3 (0.7, 2.4)	2.0 (0.8, 4.5)	1.0 (0.5, 1.8)	1.4 (0.7, 2.9)
Change – Ventilation/purification^b
No	249	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Yes	88	2.6 (1.3, 5.5)*	1.5 (0.7, 2.9)	2.2 (1.2, 3.9)*	1.8 (0.9, 3.5)	1.6 (0.9, 2.7)	1.5 (0.9, 2.4)

n=number of children; OR=odds ratio; CI=confidence interval.

^aDoes not include 8 children in homes with other type of heating.

^bThese non-mutually exclusive categories are based on open-ended comments by participants.

*p<0.05.

Table V. Odds ratios (OR, 95% CI) for asthma and respiratory symptoms and household variables among children aged <18 years in Region 1

	n	Asthma	Wheezing, whistling in chest	Dry cough at night	Stuffy, runny nose; sinus congestion	Watery, itchy or irritated eyes	Productive cough
Crowding
< 2.5	262	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
≥ 2.5	205	0.6 (0.3, 1.4)	1.2 (0.7, 2.3)	0.9 (0.5, 1.6)	0.5 (0.3, 0.9)*	0.7 (0.4, 1.4)	0.8 (0.4, 1.5)
Heating^a
Fuel oil only	180	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Fuel oil + woodstove	184	1.5 (0.6, 4.0)	1.0 (0.5, 2.1)	1.4 (0.7, 3.5)	1.4 (0.8, 2.4)	1.3 (0.6, 2.8)	0.7 (0.4, 1.4)
Woodstove only	85	1.8 (0.6, 5.2)	0.8 (0.3, 2.0)	1.5 (0.7, 3.2)	2.0 (1.0, 3.9)	2.0 (0.8, 5.0)	0.9 (0.4, 2.1)
Household smoker
No	244	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Yes	226	0.8 (0.3, 1.7)	2.1 (1.1, 4.0)*	1.6 (1.0, 2.8)	1.4 (0.9, 2.3)	1.1 (0.5, 2.0)	1.3 (0.7, 2.4)
Age of house
Built 1985 or later	261	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Built before 1985	193	1.2 (0.5, 2.6)	2.0 (1.0, 3.8)	1.4 (0.8, 2.4)	1.1 (0.7, 1.9)	1.1 (0.6, 2.2)	1.3 (0.7, 2.4)
Presence of mould^b
No	335	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Yes	138	1.0 (0.5, 2.4)	1.1 (0.6, 2.3)	0.6 (0.3, 1.2)	1.1 (0.6, 2.0)	1.3 (0.6, 2.5)	2.0 (1.1, 3.8)
Concern of outdoor smoke^b
No	386	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Yes	87	1.5 (0.6, 3.7)	0.9 (0.5, 1.7)	2.3 (1.2, 4.3)*	1.9 (1.0, 3.6)	1.6 (0.7, 3.5)	1.9 (1.0, 3.8)
Change – Ventilation/purification^b
No	353	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Yes	120	0.9 (0.4, 2.0)	2.1 (1.1, 4.2)*	1.5 (0.8, 2.8)	1.6 (0.9, 2.7)	1.5 (0.7, 3.1)	1.7 (0.9, 3.3)

n=number of children; OR=odds ratio; CI=confidence interval.

^aDoes not include 8 children in homes with other type of heating.

^bThese non-mutually exclusive categories are based on open-ended comments by participants.

*p<0.05.