Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
To determine the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, past history of respiratory diseases, lung function and evidence of middle ear disease in school-children coming from different social and environmental backgrounds, in particular from areas with widely differing levels of air pollution.
Main Topics:
Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions Whether child has had earache/running ear/sore throat in last 12 months and how many times. Whether child has had whooping cough/measles/asthma/pneumonia/bronchitis/other chest trouble - if so, at what age, whether any complications (whooping cough and measles), number of times (pneumonia, bronchitis, other chest trouble), whether still has asthma. Whether had pneumonia/bronchitis/chest trouble in 1966 (which months), ever admitted to hospital as an in-patient (names of illnesses), had surgery to tonsils or adenoids (age), had eczema (age)/ sinusitus (age and number of times). Whether child has a blocked or runny nose on most days, snores at night, has bedroom heated all night in winter, shares a bedroom with a person with bronchitis or chest trouble. Whether other family members have bronchitis or chest trouble. Whether child coughs/brings up phlegm first thing in the morning/during the day/at night in winter, and for how many months. Whether chest ever sounds wheezy and how often, whether colds usually go to the chest. Background Variables Child's sex, date and place of birth, whether has lived in one place for more than 5 years, father's occupation, number of siblings, main source of household heating, number of rooms in house, number of occupants. Medical Examination Sex, race, date of birth, school attended, date and time of examination, standing height, weight. Information on condition of child's ears, nose and throat. Measurement of peak expiratory flow rate. School absences in previous term. Created Variables Sex, area, age in years, mean peak expiratory flow rate, age in months, social class, crowding index, attendance rate, whether child has had bronchitis/pneumonia, whether family is bronchitic, whether child coughs during day, obesity index, condition of ears.
One-stage stratified or systematic random sample
firstly, the country was stratified according to amount of air pollution, using smoke and SO2 data
Postal survey
Clinical measurements
Physical measurements
