Asthma and geographical altitude: an inverse relationship in Mexico

Motivated by the great asthma-prevalence variation throughout the world, we analyzed the rate variation of medical services due to asthma in the 32 Mexican states at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (approximately 24 million insured subjects). In 1993, a total of 406,036 services were due to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of asthma Vol. 36; no. 6; p. 511
Main Authors Vargas, M H, Sienra-Monge, J J, Díaz-Mejía, G, DeLeón-González, M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.01.1999
Subjects
Altitude
Asthma - epidemiology
Asthma - etiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Incidence
Mexico - epidemiology
National Health Programs - utilization
Referral and Consultation - utilization
Regression Analysis
Risk Factors
Mexico
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Summary:Motivated by the great asthma-prevalence variation throughout the world, we analyzed the rate variation of medical services due to asthma in the 32 Mexican states at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (approximately 24 million insured subjects). In 1993, a total of 406,036 services were due to asthma, and state rates ranged from 53 to 476 x 10,000 insured subjects. A direct correlation (p < 0.05) was found for single-room house, ascariasis, and rubella rates, but the strongest (inverse) correlation was found for geographical altitude (r = -0.73, p < 10(-5)). Thus, in Mexico, geographical altitude affects the etiological factor(s) responsible for the development of asthma or for the triggering of asthma attacks.
ISSN:0277-0903
DOI:10.3109/02770909909054557