The prevalence of asthma among children has increased in the last decade, particularly among ethnic minorities. However, the prevalence of asthma and other respiratory conditions among Alaskan native children has not been previously reported. Children attending grades 6-9 in three villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region of Alaska were surveyed in 1997 using modified validated instruments developed by the International Studies of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC). Children were categorized as those who had received a diagnosis of asthma by a doctor, children with asthma-like symptoms without a diagnosis of asthma, children with daily sputum production without asthma-like symptoms, and normal children without respiratory symptoms. The proportions of children (as% of total children surveyed/village) in each category are depicted below. The frequency of different respiratory symptoms varies among villages. Yet, in all three sites asthma symptoms are more common than diagnosed asthma. Daily sputum production suggestive of chronic bronchitis is more common than both diagnosed and undiagnosed asthma. Remarkably, more than half of middle school children in Southwest Alaska by self-reporting have chronic respiratory symptoms. Table

Table 1 No caption available.
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