DE LA SALLE HEALTH SCIENCES INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY MEDICINE CM2 SY 2011-2012

OUTPUTS 8 & 9: PLAN FOR DATA ANALYSIS Exposure to Air-conditioning Systems in Classrooms Leads to Mild Severity of Allergic Rhinitis in Second Year High School Students of Selected Schools in Dasmarias City, Cavite: A CrossSectional Study.

SUBMITTED ON: December 15, 2011

SUBMITTED TO: DR. JOVILIA M. ABONG

SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 1A ARCAIRA, JOSHUA A. ABAD, MARY RAINA ANGELI ANCHETA, JONATHAN BASUL, CHARINE CARAVEO, JULIEN NICOLE CRUZ, SPICA ESPINOZA, FAITH KRISTINE GARCIA, RAY WILSON KALALO, GERARD MICHAEL

OUTPUTS 8 & 9: PLAN FOR DATA ANALYSIS GROUP 1A, DR. JOVILIA M. ABONG RESEARCH QUESTION: Among second year high school students with allergic rhinitis of selected schools in Dasmarias, Cavite, will exposure to air-conditioned school rooms affect the severity of their allergic rhinitis?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES General Objective: To determine if the exposure to the air-conditioning system affects the severity of allergic rhinitis in second year high school students of selected schools in Dasmarias, Cavite. Specific Objectives: 1. To identify the prevalence of allergic rhinitis among second year high school students of selected schools in of Dasmarias, Cavite based on their classroom conditions (air-conditioned vs. non-air-conditioned). 2. To determine the severity of allergic rhinitis according to ARIA classifications. 3. To identify the risk factors of allergic rhinitis present in the classroom or school, such as the presence of molds, chalk dust, house dust, and cockroaches. 4. Compare the severity of allergic rhinitis in students who are exposed to air-conditioned classrooms and those who are not exposed to air-conditioned classrooms. RESEARCH DESIGN A Cross-Sectional type of research design will be implemented in this study to determine if there is a relationship between exposure to air-conditioning system in the classroom and mild severity allergic rhinitis. PLAN FOR DATA ANALYSIS 1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS A. Measures of Disease Frequency The measures of disease frequency and proportion that the researchers may employ for this study include the Prevalence Rate of the disease. Prevalence Rate can be further subdivided into point prevalence or period prevalence. Since allergic rhinitis is believed to be genetic and environmental, either of the two divisions may be used in getting the prevalence rate of Allergic Rhintis. The researchers can also use Ratio by getting the number of students whose Allergic Rhinitis has been mild due to presence or absence of air-conditioning systems as numerator and all cases as denominator. The same can also be applied in getting the ratio of the students whose Allergic Rhinitis have been moderate or severe due to presence or absence of air-conditioning systems and the total number of severe cases.

In getting the proportion, the students whose Allergic Rhinitis have been mild and moderate-severe due to presence or absence of air-conditioning systems will be the numerator and the entire study population of students with Allergic Rhinitis will be the denominator. B. Measures of Association Since this is a cross-sectional study, our measures of association will be based on the prevalence ratio, in which the relationship of those exposed to an air-conditioning system in the classroom and the severity of the patients Allergic Rhinitis is evaluated using the following equation: Prevalence (Severity) of AR in air-conditioned classrooms Prevalence (Severity) of AR in non air-conditioned classrooms

Prevalence Ratio =

If the prevalence ratio is equal to one (1), then there is no association between the two variables. If the prevalence ratio is greater or less than one (1), the there is an association between. 2. INFERENTIAL STATISTICS Plan of Hypothesis Test This study will have a one-tailed test and will move in the direction that having an air conditioning system in the classroom leads to milder severity of AR. Therefore, the data to be used is the proportion of students who have mild severity AR from the air conditioned classrooms and those from non-air conditioned classrooms based on the ARIA classification. Since we are to compare ratios from two independent groups, we are to use the T-test. State Plan possible for Interpretation of Data The level of significance used in the study is 0.05. When the p value is compared to the level of significance, this will determine whether we reject or do not reject the null hypothesis which claims that there is no association between air conditioning system and mild severity of AR. If the p value is less than 0.05, the test is statistically significant and we reject the null hypothesis. If the p value is greater than 0.05, the test is not statistically significant and therefore we do not reject the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis will not have sufficient evidence to be concluded. Plan Confidence Interval and Covert Interpretation of Data With a level of significance of 0.05, the confidence interval is 95% and corresponds to a reliability coefficient (or Z value) of 1.96. Then we compute for the following: y y Confidence Interval (CI) = Point estimate (reliability coefficient * standard error)

1 Standard Error = p  p n , where p is the proportion of students that have mild severity AR that have air conditioned classrooms.