Number of individual participants included in the study (total N=121 711) by WHO region and their characteristics; data from the World Health Surveys for the years 2002–2004
| Asthma-related symptoms | BMI classification | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of people surveyed* | Wheezing symptoms (%) | Diagnosed asthma (%) | Both (%) | Underweight (%; <18.5) | Overweight (%, 25–29) | Obese (%; ≥30) | Smoking (%) | Solid fuels for cooking (%) | Drinking (%) | Less than primary school (%)† | ||||||||||||||
| WHO region | Number of countries surveyed | LMIC (%) | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W | M | W |
| AFR | 18 | 100.0 | 4868 | 17 008 | 6.1 | 7.5 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 8.4 | 8.9 | 19.4 | 21.6 | 6.7 | 10.2 | 23.8 | 3.5 | 69.3 | 73.0 | 35.7 | 16.3 | 37.8 | 49.1 |
| EMR | 4 | 75.0 | 4087 | 3381 | 6.9 | 5.7 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 23.5 | 27.3 | 7.3 | 9.7 | 39.3 | 2.4 | 28.6 | 21.8 | 15.0 | 1.1 | 22.2 | 35.4 |
| EUR‡ | 12 | 33.3 | 4677 | 7110 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 37.0 | 21.7 | 8.2 | 7.5 | 55.5 | 24.5 | 11.3 | 9.2 | 82.9 | 68.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| AMR | 7 | 85.7 | 12 299 | 15 944 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 4.7 | 35.1 | 28.2 | 9.8 | 13.1 | 32.4 | 12.6 | 22.0 | 17.9 | 71.6 | 45.7 | 12.7 | 10.8 |
| SEAR | 5 | 100.0 | 8290 | 8096 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 22.9 | 28.9 | 7.4 | 7.9 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 45.4 | 9.3 | 78.7 | 78.6 | 29.1 | 3.3 | 25.2 | 38.5 |
| WPR‡ | 5 | 100.0 | 7933 | 9018 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 11.1 | 17.6 | 12.8 | 11.3 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 59.6 | 6.8 | 50.4 | 48.3 | 59.5 | 19.9 | 16.4 | 19.0 |
| Total | 51 | 80.4 | 52 154 | 60 557 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 9.0 | 11.4 | 22.1 | 20.3 | 6.2 | 8.6 | 38.8 | 9.6 | 48.4 | 45.2 | 49.3 | 28.1 | 22.1 | 26.7 |
*Out of the total 174 556 adults in 70 countries aged 18–44 years included in the survey, 112 711 individuals in 51 countries provided available information on BMI, asthma and related symptoms, level of education, smoking, and type of fuels for cooking.
†Populations with no formal schooling or less than primary school education are combined.
‡Eighteen European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey and the UK) and one Western Pacific country (Australia) were excluded from the study.
AFR, Africa; AMR, Americas; BMI, body mass index; EMR, Eastern Mediterranean; EUR, Europe; LMIC, low-income and middle-income country; M, men; SEAR, South-East Asia; W, women; WPR, Western Pacific.