Objectives: To determine the prevalence of asthma and the association between sociodemographic characteristics, spirometry, respiratory symptoms, quality of life and sleep in adults > 40 years.
Materials and methods: This report is part of our study (Latin American Research Project Obstructive Pulmonary), held in Mexico City and the metropolitan area in 2003. We used logistic regression models adjusted for study design, where asthma was the dependent and independent variable respiratory symptoms, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics among others.
Results: The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was: 3.3% in men and 6.2% in women. Decreased lung function in asthmatics was observed. In multivariate analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders, asthmatics had a higher risk of excessive daytime sleepiness more snoring [OR = 3.2 (95% CI 1.4-7.4), p= 0.008], and more frequent work absences due to respiratory problems [OR = 5.1 (95% CI 2.5-10.4), p<0.0001].
Conclusions: The prevalence of asthma was 5%. Asthmatics showed lower quality of life and lung function.