Abstract
PURPOSE: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease that impacts millions of people worldwide. Understanding and reporting its prevalence and characteristic symptoms are essential for a comprehensive investigation of the disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of asthma and asthma-related symptoms across Iraq. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaire. A questionnaire was created using Google Forms and distributed through various social networking sites. RESULTS: A total of 1131 participants were included in the study from different rural and urban Iraqi communities. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 10.5%. The most commonly reported asthma symptom was waking due to an attack of coughing, reported by 60.9% of participants, followed by shortness of breath triggered by dust or fumes (45.9%) and waking due to shortness of breath (36.6%). Our results indicated that being a male, having allergic rhinitis and a family history of asthma is more like to have asthma according to physician diagnosis. Also, a significant association was found between asthma and having allergic rhinitis, food allergies, drug allergies and family history of asthma with asthma according to ECRHS. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the prevalence of asthma and its associated symptoms among adults in Iraq, using the ECRHS questionnaire. The findings highlight the need for improved awareness, early diagnosis, and targeted interventions, particularly for high-risk groups such as older adults, smokers, and those with allergies. Further research is needed to explore environmental and genetic factors contributing to asthma prevalence in the region.