Varying Biosocial Correlates of Asthma and Wheezy Bronchitis

The British National Child Development Study has followed everyone born in one week in 1958 in England, Wales, and Scotland at varying intervals since birth. Examination of the data from this study has permitted analysis of differences between those diagnosed with wheezy bronchitis and those with asthma at ages 7 and 11. Among the 15,398 individuals at age 7 and the 15,303 at age 11, 446 (449 at 11) had asthma and 2,488 (1,194 at 11) had wheezy bronchitis. There are striking differences in parental social status, occupation, education, housing, family size, birth order, and geographic distribution between the asthmatics and the wheezy bronchitics. There are also differences in reasons given for long school absences among children in the two diagnostic categories. By 1969 the disease classification had begun to change, and by 1974 the category of wheezy bronchitis was no longer in use. We examine some of the possible societal reasons for the change in classification.