Respiratory symptoms in Greenlanders living in Greenland and Denmark: a population-based study

Background: Knowledge of respiratory diseases in an arctic population with increasingly westernized lifestyles provides the opportunity to obtain new information in this field. Objective: To investigate the influence of environment and lifestyle on the presence of respiratory symptoms in a genetically homogenous population sample living under widely differing conditions. Methods: Greenland is a part of Denmark, but its climate is mainly arctic, as opposed to the temperate climate of southern Denmark. A random sample of Inuits who had immigrated to Denmark and Inuits from 3 towns and 4 remote settlements in Greenland were studied. Of the 6,695 invited Inuits, 4,162 (62%) completed a questionnaire concerning respiratory symptoms and risk factors. Results: Of the 4,162 Inuits, 847 (20%) had respiratory symptoms. Bronchitis was more frequent in the areas of Greenland than in Denmark (26% and 20% vs 13%; P <.001), whereas the pattern of asthma was contradictory (6% and 9% vs 10%; P =.057). Bronchitis was associated with living area (P =.01), tobacco consumption (P <.001), and asthma (P =.001), whereas asthma was related to living area (P =.03), hay fever (P <.001), low intake of whale (P =.04), years in Denmark (P =.09), and bronchitis (P <.001). Conclusions: Inuits' prevalence of bronchitis and asthma differed, with a higher frequency of bronchitis and a lower frequency of asthma in Inuits living in Greenland compared with Denmark. Living conditions or areas, diet, tobacco use, climate, and atopy are important for the presence of symptoms.