More than 4 in 10 students in Kasaragod educational district have asthma, allergic rhinitis or eczema, found a study funded by the Government of Kerala. The allergic diseases classified as atopic disorders are higher than the prevalence in the rest of the country, said Dr Guruprasad Aggithaya, Chief Consultant (Ayurveda) of the Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD), which spearheaded the research.
The questionnaire-based study was conducted in 20 schools and 5,914 students in the age group of 10 to 15 years participated, he said. Out of the 5,914 students, 2310 or 41.8% showed positive symptoms of atopic disorders. Among them, 13% or 716 students had chronic wheezing, 9.8% or 543 students had eczema and 32.8% or 1,813 students suffered from rhinitis.
"These symptoms were prevalent when the students did not have a cold," said Dr Aggithaya, a leading institute that practises integrative medicine and is a pioneer in treating filariasis. The study – funded by the Department of Environment and Climate Change of the Government of Kerala — also found that there is a significant relationship between bronchial asthma, eczema, and rhinitis. "We found that if a student has any atopic disorder, it can trigger the other two conditions. We call it atopic march," he said. According to the study, out of the 716 students with asthma, 125 or 17.5% had rhinitis and 62 students or 8.7% had eczema before asthma. Out of the 543 students with eczema, 75 or 14% had a previous history of asthma and 101 or 18.6% had rhinitis. Out of the 1,813 students with rhinitis, 192 or 10.6% had a history of asthma, and 89 or 4.9% had eczema before rhinitis.
The findings were published in peer-reviewed Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, the official journal of the Indian Clinical Epidemiology Network. Factors such as gender, age and economic status of the students showed little bearing on the findings, he said. To put the findings in perspective, only 3% to 20.5% of the population have atopic dermatitis, and allergic rhinitis affects 10% to 30%, according to the World Allergy Organisation. "We are surprised by the finding because Kasaragod is not a polluted place like the big cities," said Dr Aggithaya.
