School Absenteeism in Asthmatic Students of an Academic Institution in Cali, Colombia During 2017

Background: Despite current diagnostic and therapeutic advances, asthma generates limitations of daily activities, interferes with sleep, affects academic performance and leads to absenteeism school. The CDC has reported that the number of lost school days reported among children with asthma was 12.4 million in 2003, 10.4 million in 2008 and 13.8 million in 2013 (1 d/month; > 2x of healthier peers). In Colombia, data on impact of asthma on academic performance is limited. One study showed that the average number of emergency visits in last year was 3 (14 d of school absenteeism). The goal of this study was to determine the rate of absenteeism in one academic institution in Cali, Colombia during 2017. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive observational study of all students between 5 and 14 years of age attending an educational institution in Cali during 2017. Consent was provided by participants and institutional IRB approved the study. The ISAAC self-administered questionnaire was administered. Attendance record databases were accessed to extract the information from Feb through Oct 2017. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Results: The ISAAC questionnaire was distributed to a total of 385 students. The incidence of asthma found was 27% (n=103). Majority were male (55%), age ranged between 5 and 8 (67%), low socioeconomic status constituted more than half of the population. According to GINA criteria, 71% of the sample had intermittent asthma and 29% had mild persistent asthma. A total of 776 days was missed during this year (mean 7.5/student/academic year). 91% of the children missed at least 1 time and 9% of them never missed classes. September was the month of the year with the highest percentage of absences (15%) followed by March (14%), and August (13%). The highest percent of absences (59%) was reported in the group with intermittent asthma. Conclusions: In this group of students, the incidence of asthma was almost twice as large as reported by previous studies in Latin America (7%-14%), but lower than reported in other cities in Colombia (36%). The number of school days missed was higher than previously reported in several studies in Colombia (2.8 days in 9 months) but certainly lower than in Venezuela (6 d/month). Spirometric confirmation of asthma incidence could improve the accuracy of the data. Memory bias needs to be kept in mind as the ISAAC survey contains items that date back to events that could have occurred 12 months.