ERICA: smoking is associated with more severe asthma in Brazilian adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between smoking and asthma, and possible associated factors in Brazilian adolescents.


METHODS
A cross-sectional, national, school-based study with adolescents aged 12-17 years, participants in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (Estudo de Riscos Cardiovasculares em Adolescentes - ERICA). A total of 66,394 participants answered a self-administered questionnaire with questions about asthma, smoking, lifestyle and sociodemographic variables. Bivariate analysis between Current Asthma (CA) and Severe Asthma (SA) and the other study variables were performed using Chi-squared. Then, the crude and adjusted Prevalence Ratios (PR), and respective 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI) of current asthma/severe asthma and smoking variables, corrected for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, were estimated using generalized linear models with Poisson regression, logit link, and robust variance.


RESULTS
The prevalence of current asthma and severe asthma were significantly higher in adolescents who were exposed to: experimentation (current asthma: PR=1.78, 95% CI: 1.51-2.09; severe asthma: PR=2.01; 95% CI: 1.35-2.98); current smoking (current asthma: PR=2.08, 95% CI: 1.65-2.64; severe asthma: PR=2.29; 95% CI: 1.38-3.82); regular smoking (current asthma: PR=2.25, 95% CI: 1.64-3.07; severe asthma: PR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.23-4.73); and passive smoking (current asthma: PR=1.47, 95% CI: 1.27-1.67; severe asthma: PR=1.66; 95% CI: 1.19-2.32); these associations remained significant after adjustment.


CONCLUSIONS
Asthma and smoking were significantly associated in Brazilian adolescents, regardless of the sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, notably in those with more severe disease.
['Jordão|Erica Azevedo de Oliveira Costa|EAOC|', 'Kuschnir|Fabio Chigres|FC|', 'Figueiredo|Valeska Carvalho|VC|', 'Félix|Mara Morelo Rocha|MMR|', 'Silva|Thiago Luiz Nogueira da|TLND|', 'Kuschnir|Maria Cristina Caetano|MCC|', 'Bloch|Katia Vergetti|KV|', 'Szklo|Moyses|M|']
D000293:Adolescent D001249:Asthma D001938:Brazil D002648:Child D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005191:Family Characteristics D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008019:Life Style D008297:Male D016012:Poisson Distribution D015995:Prevalence D012307:Risk Factors D012720:Severity of Illness Index D012907:Smoking D012959:Socioeconomic Factors D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Smoking Asthma Adolescent Adolescente Asma Epidemiological studies Estudo epidemiológico Tabagismo