What is it about?
Childhood asthma is not equally common across Australia. Using data from more than 10,000 children and adolescents between 2004 and 2018, we examined how asthma prevalence and its risk factors varied across parts of Australia with different climates. The highest average prevalence was observed in a cold, dry climate region, while clusters of high asthma prevalence were concentrated mainly in southeastern Australia. Asthma risk was also associated with sex, parental asthma, maternal depression and breastfeeding duration.
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Why is it important?
Australia’s diverse climates create long-term differences in temperature, rainfall, humidity, allergens and other environmental conditions. Identifying where asthma is more common, and how risk factors vary between regions, can support more locally relevant prevention, education and healthcare planning. The findings also highlight the need to investigate the specific environmental drivers behind these geographic patterns.
Perspectives
Australia’s climatic diversity offers a unique opportunity to explore why childhood asthma risk differs across regions. Our findings show that both asthma patterns and the importance of individual and family risk factors vary by climatic context. Understanding the environmental drivers behind these differences may help explain why some parts of Australia experience a greater childhood asthma burden.
Jialu Wang
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Geographic trends in asthma risk among children and adolescents across climate zones in Australia, 2004–2018, Advances in Climate Change Research, June 2025, Tsinghua University Press,
DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2025.04.012.
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