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Risk factors for asthma and allergy associated with urban migration: background and methodology of a cross-sectional study in Afro-Ecuadorian school children in Northeastern Ecuador (Esmeraldas-SCAALA Study).

Cooper, PJ; Chico, ME; Vaca, MG; Rodriguez, A; Alcântara-Neves, NM; Genser, B; de Carvalho, LP; Stein, RT; Cruz, AA; Rodrigues, LC; et al. Cooper, PJ; Chico, ME; Vaca, MG; Rodriguez, A; Alcântara-Neves, NM; Genser, B; de Carvalho, LP; Stein, RT; Cruz, AA; Rodrigues, LC; Barreto, ML (2006) Risk factors for asthma and allergy associated with urban migration: background and methodology of a cross-sectional study in Afro-Ecuadorian school children in Northeastern Ecuador (Esmeraldas-SCAALA Study). BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 6 (24). ISSN 1471-2466 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2466-6-24
SGUL Authors: Cooper, Philip John

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Abstract

Background: Asthma and allergic diseases are becoming increasingly frequent in children in urban centres of Latin America although the prevalence of allergic disease is still low in rural areas. Understanding better why the prevalence of asthma is greater in urban migrant populations and the role of risk factors such as life style and environmental exposures, may be key to understand what is behind this trend. Methods/Design: The Esmeraldas-SCAALA (Social Changes, Asthma and Allergy in Latin America) study consists of cross-sectional and nested case-control studies of school children in rural and urban areas of Esmeraldas Province in Ecuador. The cross-sectional study will investigate risk factors for atopy and allergic disease in rural and migrant urban Afro-Ecuadorian school children and the nested case-control study will examine environmental, biologic and social risk factors for asthma among asthma cases and non-asthmatic controls from the cross-sectional study. Data will be collected through standardised questionnaires, skin prick testing to relevant aeroallergen extracts, stool examinations for parasites, blood sampling (for measurement of IgE, interleukins and other immunological parameters), anthropometric measurements for assessment of nutritional status, exercise testing for assessment of exercise-induced bronchospasm and dust sampling for measurement of household endotoxin and allergen levels. Discussion: The information will be used to identify the factors associated with an increased risk of asthma and allergies in migrant and urbanizing populations, to improve the understanding of the causes of the increase in asthma prevalence and to identify potentially modifiable factors to inform the design of prevention programmes to reduce the risk of allergy in urban populations in Latin America.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: PMCID: PMC1578586. © 2006 Cooper et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Adolescent, African Continental Ancestry Group, Asthma, Case-Control Studies, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Ecuador, Eczema, Humans, Hypersensitivity, Prevalence, Rhinitis, Risk Factors, Transients and Migrants, Urban Population
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Infection and Immunity Research Institute (INII)
Journal or Publication Title: BMC Pulmonary Medicine
ISSN: 1471-2466
Dates:
DateEvent
13 September 2006Published
PubMed ID: 16970809
Web of Science ID: 16970809
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URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/102150
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2466-6-24

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