Table 1.

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of children with recurrent wheezing or asthma and healthy children

	Wheezing/asthma (n = 364)		Healthy children (n = 389)		p-value
	N	%	N	%
Age distribution
2-5 yrs	155	42.6	152	39.1
5-18 yrs	209	57.4	237	60.9	0.365
Sex
Male	237	65.1	196	50.4
Female	127	34.9	193	49.6	<0.001
Parental education a
Primary/secondary for both parents	36	9.9	17	4.4
High school for at least one parent	161	44.5	129	33.2
University degree for at least one parent	165	45.6	243	62.5	<0.001
Paternal smoking during pregnancy a
No	255	71.2	312	81.0
Yes	103	28.8	73	19.0	0.002
Maternal smoking during pregnancy a
No	329	91.6	353	91.5
Yes	30	8.4	33	8.5	0.92
Parental history of atopy a
No	269	74.9	343	90.5
Yes	90	25.1	36	9.5	<0.001
Gestational age (weeks) a
<37	56	15.6	26	6.8
≥37	304	84.4	357	93.2	<0.001
Birth weight (grams) a
≤2500	44	12.2	31	8.0
>2500-3500	227	62.9	245	63.1
>3500	90	24.9	112	28.9	0.11
Neonatal respiratory disease a
No	317	88.1	372	95.9
Yes	43	11.9	16	4.1	<0.001
Neonatal cardiac disease a
No	335	94.4	380	97.9
Yes	20	5.6	8	2.1	0.01
Breastfeeding (months)
No breastfeeding	70	19.2	56	14.4
≤6	152	41.8	152	39.1
>6	142	39.0	181	46.5	0.07
Previous hospitalization for respiratory disease a
No	187	52.2	339	87.4
Yes	171	47.8	49	12.6	<0.001
Home type a
Flat	318	87.8	364	93.8
House/villa	44	12.2	24	6.2	0.004
Home size (m 2 ) a
≤90	155	43.9	123	32.8
>90-110	103	29.2	127	33.9
>110	95	26.9	125	33.3	0.008
Proximity to car-traffic
No	168	46.2	169	43.4
Yes	196	53.8	220	56.6	0.46
Proximity to truck-traffic
No	304	83.5	342	87.9
Yes	60	16.5	47	12.1	0.08
Proximity to factories
No	327	89.8	375	96.4
Yes	37	10.2	14	3.6	<0.001
Residence in a green area
No	145	39.8	183	47.0
Yes	219	60.2	206	53.0	0.046
Smokers at home a
No	241	67.7	297	77.1
Yes	115	32.3	88	22.9	0.004
Presence of a stove/fireplace at home a
No	327	90.6	358	92.3
Yes	34	9.4	30	7.7	0.41
Presence of an air conditioning system at home a
No	170	47.1	145	37.4
Yes	191	52.9	243	62.6	0.007
Presence of dogs at home a
No	319	88.4	351	90.7
Yes	42	11.6	36	9.3	0.30
Presence of cats at home a
No	338	93.6	351	90.7
Yes	23	6.4	36	9.3	0.14

^aThe sums do not add up to the total because of some missing values. p-values were calculated using the χ² test.