Supplementary Material for: Decline in Asthma Prevalence and Severity in Israel over a 10-Year Period

Background: The prevalence of asthma has increased in
western countries towards the end of the last century, but recently
seems to have stabilized. Objective: To evaluate trends in the prevalence and severity of asthma that occurred in Israel over the past decade. Methods:
The medical records of 17-year-old boys, eligible for national service,
between 1999 and 2008 were reviewed. National annual hospitalization
and death rates for asthma were extracted. Results: Three
hundred thousand medical records were reviewed. During the study period,
lifetime asthma prevalence decreased from 9.7 to 8.1% (p = 0.002). The
point prevalence of moderate-to-severe and mild persistent asthma
decreased significantly from 0.88 and 3.41% to 0.36 and 2.44%,
respectively, during this period. The prevalence of intermittent asthma
and asthma in clinical remission for more than 3 years did not change
significantly. The annual hospitalization rate for asthma decreased from
13.0 to 7.5 per 10,000 population (p < 0.0001), whilst the annual
death rate due to asthma decreased between 1999 and 2008 from 2.1 to 1.4
per 100,000 population (p = 0.003). Conclusions: The
prevalence of asthma in Israeli teenage boys decreased significantly
over the last decade. In addition, asthma hospitalization and
asthma-related death rates in the total population also decreased.

背景：上世纪末，西方国家的哮喘患病率呈上升趋势，但近年来已趋于平稳。
研究目的：评估过去十年以色列哮喘患病率与病情严重程度的变化趋势。
研究方法：回顾分析1999年至2008年间，所有符合国民兵役（national service）征召条件的17岁男性的医疗记录，并提取全国年度哮喘住院率与死亡率数据。
研究结果：本研究共回顾了30万份医疗记录。研究期间，哮喘终身患病率从9.7%降至8.1%（p = 0.002）。中度至重度哮喘与轻度持续性哮喘的时点患病率分别从0.88%、3.41%显著降至0.36%与2.44%。间歇性哮喘及临床缓解超过3年的哮喘患病率无显著变化。年度哮喘住院率从每10000人口13.0例降至7.5例（p < 0.0001）；1999年至2008年间，哮喘相关年度死亡率从每100000人口2.1例降至1.4例（p = 0.003）。
研究结论：过去十年间，以色列男性青少年的哮喘患病率显著下降。此外，全人群的哮喘住院率及哮喘相关死亡率亦呈下降趋势。