行政院環境保護署基於改善空氣品質之訴求,委請國立台灣大學公共衛生研究所等10所學術機構,進行國民中學學生氣喘篩檢及肺功能檢查,以探索與空氣污染的關係,作為空氣污染防制措施之參考。分北一、北二、中、南、高屏及東區進行。本文的目的在報告北一區,即台北市、台北縣、基隆市及宜蘭縣,國中學生氣喘的盛行狀況,並分析學生氣喘盛行的地區差異,探討生活型態、空氣污染、季節等因素的相關程度。氣喘篩檢是使用兩種標準問卷,包括由父母回答的新英格蘭問卷及由學生看錄影帶回答的問卷。問卷內容包括學生的基本資料、居家的環境條件、父母親對兒女的過敏性疾病認知等部份。本分區共回收313,199名(87.9%)學生的資料。 結果:全北一區的國中學生氣喘盛行率為10.2%(男生11.6%、女生8.2%)。其中以台北市的盛行率最高為13.0%,疑似氣喘率則為19.3%,宜蘭縣最低(分別為5.9%和17.9%)。本文除對各種與氣喘可能相關的因子作雙向分析之外,並使用複邏輯迴歸分析,以氣喘的有無當作依變項,性別、年級別、空氣污染程度、燒香、縣市別、學生運動情況、家中抽菸人數及家人抽菸數量為自變項。大多與氣喘呈現統計學上有意義的正相關;唯燒香和運動都呈現負相關。居住在空氣污染較嚴重的地區、男性、父母的高教育程度、低年級、很少運動及暴露在么手菸下均會有較高的氣喘罹病勝算比。複運輯迴歸的結果顯示空氣污染的氣喘勝算比污染嚴重地區對沒污染為1.8(95%信賴區間1.73~1.95)。
An asthma mass screening study was conducted among all middle school students in Taiwan in 1995-1996. The screening activities were performed simultaneously in six regions: North-1, North-2, Center, South, KauPin and East regions. Investigators also selected 20 percent of the students undergo lung function tests. Data collected for asthma screening in North-1 region, including Taipei metropolitan, Taipei County, Keelung City and Ilan County, were utilized for this report. With the assistance of the local Educational Bureau, school administrations, and teachers, the trained study teams distributed the adapted Chinese version of New England Core questionnaires to students for completion by their parents. Students themselves responded to a Chinese version of the video questionnaire developed by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children. The current study attempts to investigate which of the factors, such as age, gender, parental education, passive smoking, exercise, burning of Chinese incense, and air pollution have significant associations with children's asthma. A total of 158,330 boys and 154,760 girls were included in the analyses. For the whole North-I region, the asthma prevalence was 10.2%, higher in boys (11.6%) than in girls (8.2%), and the suspected asthma prevalence was 19.3%. Among the four subareas in North-1 region, the highest prevalence rate (13.0%) was in metropolitan Taipei and the lowest (5.9%) was in Ilan. Results of multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that factors significantly associated with asthma included living in areas with heavy air pollution, being a boy, higher parental education and being younger. No consistent patterns were observed for passive smoking unless more than 60 cigarettes were smoked daily by household members. Students who lived in areas of parents-reported heavy air pollution were 1.8 times more likely (95% confidence interval 1.73-1.95) to have a history of asthma than students who lived in area with no pollution. This study showed a detrimental relationship between asthma and parent-reported air pollution level.