DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i08.016

Pages: 2704-2714

Background: Asthma is one of the most common serious global health problems affecting all age groups in the world. Its prevalence is increasing in many countries, especially among children. This paper aims to cover the current status of childhood asthma in the State of Qatar. Methods: An extensive review of studies published from 1989 to 2019 (30 years) in the area of childhood asthma was conducted with the use of PubMed and Google Scholar, using the key terms; childhood, asthma, Qatar. We also used the reference list of all retrieved articles, related articles and author names to expand our search that was used for this review. Results: Retrieved articles state that the prevalence of asthma in the Middle East is lower than in most developed countries. However, there is not enough longitudinal data to estimate the trend over time. The estimated prevalence of asthma in the Middle Eastern children aged 13-14 years was 7.57%. The minimum prevalence rate of asthma in the Middle East (0.7%) was observed in Isfahan in Iran, and the highest 22.3% was reported from Bagdad in Iraq. The diagnosed prevalence of asthma among Qatari school children was 19.8 %, which is very close to that in the neighbouring Gulf Country Oman, 20.7 %. Conclusion: This review emphasizes the importance of research on childhood asthma in Qatar to capture the baseline data and the need for Health policymakers to implement clinical control measures to lessen the burden of asthma in children in the state of Qatar.