Prevalence and risk factors for self-reported asthma among sami in Sweden: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveLiterature about asthma among Indigenous communities worldwide is scarce. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of self-reported asthma and to identify the risk factors associated with it among the Sami population in Sweden.MethodsA population-based health study (SamiHET) was conducted among the Sami population aged 18-84 years in 2021. The asthma outcome was self-reported. Potential risk factors included sociodemographic, socioeconomic, cultural, behavioral and psychosomatic factors. Frequencies and percentages of the independent variables and the outcome were calculated. Then, the magnitude of the association between the independent variables and asthma was summarized with the prevalence ratio (PR) using the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for inferential purposes.ResultsOverall, 20.6% of participants reported having asthma and 13.9% suffering from asthma with symptoms. Women (PR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.01-1.42), those living in the Vasterbotten region (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.11-1.63) and those suffering financial strain (PR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.07-1.69) had a higher risk of self-reported asthma. Among the psychosomatic factors, self-reported allergy (PR: 6.45; 95% CI: 5.11-8.17), overweight (PR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.19-1.78) and obesity (PR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.41-2.17) were statistically significant associated to asthma symptoms.ConclusionA higher prevalence of asthma was found among the Sami in Sweden compared to the average Swedish population. The associated risk factors were similar to those described in the literature. To understand the reason behind the higher prevalence of asthma among Sami, more asthma-specific research, including register data, is needed.