Prevalence of asthma among pregnant women in Ilorin, Nigeria

Background: Asthma is a common respiratory disease in pregnancy. There are fewer studies on asthma occurrence in pregnancy. We aimed to determine the prevalence of asthma among pregnant women in Ilorin, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 870 pregnant women selected from three hospitals. The European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) screening questionnaire was administered by trained assistants. Asthma diagnosis was based on ECRHS definitions. Results: The mean age and estimated gestational age of the participants were 29.0 ± 5.0 years and 26.0 ± 9.0 weeks. Five (0.6%) of the pregnant women were former tobacco smokers and none was currently smoking. The prevalence of asthma (based on the presence of either an attack of shortness of breath, an attack of asthma or use of asthma medication was 2.1 %, physician-diagnosed asthma was 1.0% and current asthma was 0.7%. Fifty-one (5.9%) women reported one respiratory symptom in last 12 months. Wheezing and chest tightness was 2.0% respectively, woken by an attack of breathlessness (1.6%) woken by an attack of a nocturnal cough (1.3%). Nasal allergy was 12.9% while skin allergy was 12.6%. There was worsening of asthma symptoms in 4.1%. Five out of 9(55.6%) women with physician-diagnosed asthma reported an attack in the current pregnancy and were currently on antiasthma medication. The median number of attack was 2 with interquartile range of 1-3 at time of the study. Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma among pregnant women in Ilorin is low. This present study will serve as a template for future studies on asthma and pregnancy in Nigeria