Household environment and individual risk factors associated with asthma and ARI in India: a regional study based on NFHS-III.

Angan Sengupta, Institute for Social and Economic Change
Hemkhothang Lhungdim, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

In this paper, an attempt is made to examine the effects of various household environment characteristics along with individual risk factors on prevalence of asthma (males age 15-54 and females age 15-49) and ARI (children age 0-5), and the level and variation across six different regions of India, using NFHS-3 data. The study finds that susceptibility to asthma and ARI is greater among those who are exposed to poor household environment (bio-fuel consumption, absence of electricity etc.) and indulged in tobacco smoking. Adults in the East, Northeast and partly in South are at higher risk for Asthma, whereas for ARI, children in the entire North and Northeast show higher prevalence. Older men age 50-54 are nearly five times likely to be asthmatic compared to younger age 15-19. In case of ARI, the older children age 2 and above show a lower odds of 37 percent compared to younger children.