NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: health, children's health, epidemiology, respiratory

Objective(s): The purpose of this population health study is to determine the prevalence and incidence of asthma and wheezing, and to identify factors associated with these conditions in aboriginal and non-aboriginal children living in the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) conducted in these regions by Statistics Canada from 1994-1995 to 2000-2001 will be used in this study. The findings will further the understanding of asthma epidemiology in aboriginal children and will be useful to health care providers for management of asthma, to health promotion specialists to develop prevention techniques and to parents to manage their child's asthma at home. This study will investigate the trends in asthma and wheezing incidence and prevalence every two years over an 8-year period from 1994 to 2001. It will also determine host, parental and household determinants of incidence of asthma and wheezing in aboriginal and non-aboriginal children aged 0 to 11 years living in Northwest Territories and Yukon, as well as any predictors which vary between aboriginal and non-aboriginal children. No part of the study will take place in the NWT in 2003, however, as part of the results dissemination program, the study results will be reported in the annual "Compendium of Research in the Northwest Territories".