Asthma affects nearly 15 million Americans, more than 5 percent of the U.S. population. In 1991, asthma claimed approximately 5,000 lives.¹ According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African American women are more likely to die from the disease.² Asthma is a growing concern in this country, particularly in inner city and African American populations. African American children have more than six times the death rate of Caucasian Americans in the age groups of 4 and under and 15 to 24 years. Hispanic children also have a higher risk. A 2002 study suggested that these children tend to be given inferior treatments compared to Caucasian children.³

Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism due to chronic illness and is the second most important respiratory condition as a cause of home confinement for adults. Each year, asthma causes more than 18 million days of restricted activity and millions of visits to physicians' offices and emergency rooms. A recent study found that children with asthma lose an extra 10 million school days each year; this problem is compounded by an estimated $1 billion in lost productivity for their working parents.⁴

Factors contributing to asthmatic attacks include poverty, substandard housing that results in an increased exposure to certain indoor allergens, lack of education, inadequate access to health care and the failure to take appropriate medications.⁵ “African Americans do tend to be more allergic than other groups. Their asthma is worse when you control for socioeconomic factors,” says Dr. David Rosenstreich, director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.⁶

Facts to consider:

• More than 24 percent of all asthma deaths occur in African Americans.⁷
• In 1998, an estimated 1.7 million diagnosed African Americans had an asthma attack.⁸
• The asthma attack prevalence rate among African Americans was more than 31 percent higher than that for whites.⁹
• Asthma is approximately 26 percent more prevalent in African American children than in white children.¹⁰

¹ Black Health Care.com/ Addressing the Health Care Issues of African Americans
http://www.blackhealthcare.com/BHC/Asthma/Description.asp

² CBCF Health
http://www.cbcfhealth.org/content/contentID/1592

³ North Hills Internal Medicine
http://www.northhillsim.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/site.content/mode/
dtl/type/2568/pack/1/post/82/section/05.cfm

^4,5 BlackHealthCare.com
http://www.blackhealthcare.com/BHC/Asthma/Description.asp

^6,10 CBCFHealth.org
http://www.cbcfhealth.org/content/contentID/1592

^7,8,9 BlackBostonOnline.com
http://www.blackbostononline.com/lung.html