Rural to urban migration is associated with increased prevalence of childhood wheeze in a Latin-American city.

INTRODUCTION: The urbanisation process has been associated with increases in asthma prevalence in urban and rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, although rural to urban migration and migration between cities are considered important determinants of this process, few studies have evaluated the effects of internal migration on asthma in urban populations of LMICs. The present study evaluated the effects of internal migration on the prevalence of wheeze in an urban area of Latin America.

METHODS: We did a cross-sectional analysis of 2510 schoolchildren living in the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Logistic regression was used to analyse associations between childhood wheeze and different aspects of migration among schoolchildren.

RESULTS: 31% of schoolchildren were migrants. Rural to urban migrants had a higher prevalence of wheeze, (adj.OR=2.01,95% CI1.30 to 3.01, p=0.001) compared with non-migrants. Age of migration and time since migration were associated with wheeze only for rural to urban migrants but not for urban to urban migrants. Children who had migrated after 3 years of age had a greater risk of wheeze (OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.56 to 3.97, p=0.001) than non-migrants while migrants with less than 5 years living in the new residence had a higher prevalence of wheeze than non-migrants (<3 years: OR=2.34, 95% CI 1.26 to 4.33, p<0.007 and 3-5 years: OR=3.03, 95% CI 1.49 to 6.15, p<0.002).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence that rural to urban migration is associated with an increase in the prevalence of wheeze among schoolchildren living in a Latin-American city. Age of migration and time since migration were important determinants of wheeze only among migrants from rural areas. A better understanding of the social and environmental effects of internal migration could improve our understanding of the causes of the increase in asthma and differences in prevalence between urban and rural populations.