- Living in an urban area
can negatively affect asthma outcomes - particularly for children. A new
study in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the
scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology (ACAAI) shows that urban children with poorly controlled
asthma, particularly those who are ethnic minorities, also suffer
academically.
"We found associations between poor asthma status, poorer asthma
control, lower lung function, more asthma symptoms, and decline in
academic performance, says Daphne Koinis-Mitchell, PhD, lead author of
the study. "These associations were stronger in ethnic minority
children, particularly Latino children. In our study 216 Black/African
American (33 percent), Latino (46 percent) and non-Latino white (26
percent) urban children completed a clinical evaluation and home-based
assessments that evaluated asthma and allergy status, lung function and
academic performance. We found that not only do urban children with
asthma experience a higher number of school absences when compared to
their healthy peers, but there are greater disparities in academic
outcomes when ethnic differences within the groups of children are
examined."
The study found that an increased number of daily reported symptoms
by children and caregivers were related to more school absences, as well
as less work completed and worse quality of work according to teachers.
And although each asthma indicator studied (lung function, asthma
control, reports of symptoms) was related to several academic outcomes
(teacher reports of academic performance, school absences, standardized
test scores), asthma control was associated with the most academic
outcomes. Poor asthma control can be useful in identifying children who
might be at risk for problems with school performance.
Prior work by the same group of researchers showed that urban Latino
children with asthma face not only stressors of urban poverty, but
unique stressors related to ethnic background and migration experiences.
"Factors such as higher levels of fear of asthma, language barriers,
stress related to fitting in to the culture, poorer symptom perception,
greater concerns regarding medications and lower medication adherence
may put Latinos at greater risk for poor academic performance," says Dr.
Koinis-Mitchell.
"Asthma is the most common chronic illness in childhood, accounting
for 13.8 million missed school days each year," says allergist Todd
Mahr, MD, ACAAI president. "A very low proportion of the children in
this study saw specialists such as allergists. In addition, many had
undiagnosed hay fever, which can greatly contribute to poorer asthma
outcomes, and potentially poorer academic performance. Children who are
treated by allergists, who are specialists in treating asthma, have
fewer missed days from school because their asthma is better controlled.
Kids with asthma - especially in urban areas - need access to specialty
care because anyone with asthma should be able to feel good, be active
all day and sleep well at night. No one should accept less."
No comments:
Post a Comment