May 11, 2006

Ethnic gap widens for kids with asthma

By Elizabeth Crown

Fifty percent more black children than white children are hospitalized for asthma, and 25 percent more black children than white children are dying from asthma, according to a recent report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The report described a study by Northwestern researchers that evaluated recent trends in U.S. asthma hospitalization and death for black and white children and adults between 1980 and 2002.

Ruchi Gupta, M.D., and colleagues at the Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies and Children’s Memorial Hospital conducted the study, which found notable increases in black and white differences in asthma hospitalizations and deaths since 1980, while for adults the increase has been smaller.

The researchers noted that national efforts to improve asthma care over the past decade do not appear to have reduced the disparities between African Americans and whites.

Due to this widening gap, Gupta said, clinicians should focus on improving asthma treatment, prevention and education, especially for minorities.

“Further understanding of the reasons for these differences and strategies to eliminate them may start to close this unacceptable racial gap,” Gupta said.

While the large racial differences in asthma morbidity and mortality have prompted research on new interventions, public awareness, and health policy efforts in the past decade, a 2003 Institute of Medicine Report still identifies asthma treatment quality as one of 20 priority areas for national action.