Table 1 Baseline demographic characteristics of study subjects and occurrence of physician-diagnosed asthma during the follow-up by gender

Overall

2206

10.9

1846

14.1

BMI ‡

Underweight

307 (13.9)

8.5

204 (11.1)

11.3

Normal

1327 (60.2)

11.3

1201 (65.1)

13.5

Overweight

276 (12.5)

11.2

251 (13.6)

14.3

Obese

296 (13.4)

11.5

190 (10.3)

20.5

Breastfeeding †

No

1284 (58.2)

12.5

1031 (55.9)

14.0

≤ 1 month

382 (17.3)

10.2

312 (16.9)

16.0

> 1 month

540 (24.5)

7.59

503 (27.3)

13.1

Exercise frequency

Seldom

193 (8.75)

11.4

344 (18.6)

15.1

Sometimes

848 (38.4)

10.6

1081 (58.6)

13.5

Regularly

1165 (52.8)

11.1

421 (22.8)

14.7

Air conditioning

No

230 (10.4)

10.9

213 (11.5)

17.4

Yes

1976 (89.6)

10.9

1633 (88.5)

13.7

Cigarette smoking

No

2007 (91.0)

11.1

1800 (97.5)

13.9

Yes

199 (9.0)

9.54

46 (2.5)

19.6

Exposure to ETS

No

956 (43.3)

11.0

777 (42.1)

15.7

Yes

1250 (56.7)

10.9

1069 (57.9)

12.9

Mould/Fungal at home *

No

1588 (72.0)

10.1

1267 (68.6)

12.8

Yes

618 (28.0)

13.1

579 (31.4)

16.9

Parental history of asthma *

No

2136 (96.8)

13.5

1754 (95.0)

13.5

Yes

70 (3.2)

27.1

92 (5.0)

25.0

Parent education (%) †

≤ 6 yrs

745 (33.8)

7.92

624 (33.8)

13.5

7 - 12 yrs

769 (34.9)

12.0

681 (36.9)

12.6

≥ 13 yrs

692 (31.4)

13.0

541 (29.3)

16.6

Pet

No

1623 (73.6)

10.8

1312 (71.1)

14.0

Yes

583 (26.4)

11.1

534 (28.9)

14.2