Prevalence of asthma-like symptoms by ISAAC video questionnaire in Mozambican schoolchildren

Background. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) video questionnaire was developed to overcome the language and cultural differences in the assessment of asthma-like symptoms. Methods. 27 schools were included in the Maputo Asthma and Allergies in childhood Study (MAPAAS) using ISAAC methods, and a video questionnaire (VQ) was administered to 1614 adolescents 13-14 years old of 20 schools located in urban, suburban and semi-rural areas of Maputo (Mozambique). Simultaneously, they also replied to the ISAAC written questionnaire (WQ). Results. According to the video questionnaire, the prevalence of current asthma was 11.9% (compared with 13.3% using the written questionnaire). Wheezing after exercise in the last year was reported by about 21%. Females reported more frequent wheezing after exercise than males (p<.001). The prevalence of nocturnal cough in the last year was 24.7%, and was more frequent in the suburban area (p<.001). “Severe attacks of asthma†was reported by 11.9% of the individuals. Teenagers instructed in the suburban schools reported more severe asthma-like symptoms than others (p<.05). There was a poor correlation between the WQ and the AVQ3.0 (kappa coefficients varied from 0.09 to 0.24). The lowest agreement was observed for the question regarding severe attacks of asthma. Agreement was better in terms of specificity than in terms of sensitivity. Conclusions. In spite of the poor agreement between the written and the video questionnaires, the prevalence of asthma symptoms estimated using the video questionnaire confirms that asthma is an important public health problem in Maputo.