Table 2. Prevalence of respiratory symptoms in the last twelve months and of smoking, in 1990 and 2008, by sex.

		Women				Men
		1990n = 4643	2008n = 5202	Mean diff.*	P	1990n = 4339	2008n = 3954	Mean diff.*	P
Wheeze	Any	21.0	16.6	−4.4	<0.001	19.5	15.5	−4.0	<0.001
	with breathlessness	11.9	10.8	−1.1	0.084	10.4	9.4	−1.0	0.144
	without a cold	11.8	10.4	−1.4	0.032	12.5	10.0	−2.5	<0.001
“Asthma-related symptoms”		7.2	7.1	−0.1	0.906	7.3	6.6	−0.7	0.239
Woken by
	chest tightness	11.0	12.0	+1.0	0.133	11.4	9.4	−2.0	0.003
	Breathlessness	5.6	5.2	−0.4	0.348	5.0	4.6	−0.4	0.394
	Cough	32.4	30.4	−2.0	0.029	20.4	17.1	−3.2	<0.001
Asthma attack		3.4	5.2	+1.8	<0.001	3.0	3.5	+0.5	0.204
Asthma medications		5.4	7.2	+1.8	<0.001	4.9	6.4	+1.5	0.003
“Current asthma”		6.3	8.5	+2.2	<0.001	5.7	7.2	+1.5	0.005
Rhinitis		21.2	30.5	+9.3	<0.001	21.9	31.5	+9.5	<0.001
Smoking
	Ever	51.2	-			48.8	-
	current	36.7	-			33.8	-
	>12 months ever	-	27.8			-	23.6
	Last month	-	12.2			-	10.6