Lay Experiences and Concerns with Asthma
Posted by James
INTRODUCTION
Asthma is a chronic disease that can be managed with appropriate medication and education. Some disparities in prevalence and related morbidity have been identified among minority populations, particularly children. For example, Puerto Rican children have been documented to have higher prevalence rates of asthma compared to African Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Specifically, data from the National Health Interview Survey found that 83% of Puerto Rican children who reported wheezing in the past year were diagnosed with asthma compared to 71% of African American and 57% of non-Hispanic white children. While asthma prevalence among Hispanic adults in 2002 was lower than among non-Hispanic white adults (5% compared to 7.6%, respectively), prevalence in Puerto Rico was higher than in the 50 United States, and U.S. territories. A study by Ledogar et al. also found that Puerto Ricans had higher rates of asthma than other Hispanic subgroups. Similarly, Puerto Ricans had higher asthma mortality rates compared to African Americans and non-Hispanic whites (40.9 per million, 38.1 per million, and 14.7 per million, respectively. Puerto Ricans also had higher asthma mortality rates than other Hispanic subgroups. Hispanic adults with asthma were more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to present to the emergency room (26%) and 14.5%>, respectively), to have asthma-related urgent care visits (36.9% and 25.8%), to have sleep difficulty (64.7% and 47.4) and to have activity limitations (40.4 and 23.6).