One in three children complained of asthma symptoms during the last 12 months, yet few were getting the correct diagnosis or treatment, a study has revealed.

Only half of these pupils were diagnosed with asthma. One in five said they had been treated with anti-asthma drugs and 15% had used an inhaler.

A third of those with a frequent night time wheeze had not been diagnosed with asthma.

The National Asthma Campaign estimates that nearly three million people in the UK suffer from some degree of asthma and 800,000 of them are teenagers.

St George's Hospital Medical School carried out the survey

The study by St George's Hospital Medical School, London, which is reported in the British Medical Journal, found a higher incidence of wheezing among 12 to 14-year-olds compared to previous studies.

But there was little variation in the incidence from one area of the country to another.

However, in contrast to previous reports, Scotland had a slightly higher number of schoolchildren with asthma symptoms, and rural areas also had a higher incidence of asthma symptoms in children compared with urban areas.

More than 27,000 school in 93 schools across Britain took part in the survey led by Dr Balvinder Kaur.

He concluded that the prevalence of self-reported symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of asthma was high among 12 to 14-year-olds throughout Great Britain with little geographical or urban-rural variation.

But standards of diagnosis and treatment were "substantial and varied".

The lack of regional variations suggests that factors that do vary geographically - such as climate, diet and outdoor activity - are not the main causes of the condition, he claims.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©