Summary: Asthma
Learn More About Asthma
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- Asthma
- Air Quality
- Characteristics of Children with Special Needs
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- Active California Children's Services (CCS) Enrollees, by Age Group
- Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Prevalence of Special Health Care Needs Among Children (Regions of 70,000 Residents or More)
- Children with Four or More Functional Difficulties, by Type of Insurance (California & U.S. Only)
- Children with Major Disabilities, by City, School District and County (Regions of 65,000 Residents or More)
- Insured/Uninsured Children Who Have Major Disabilities, by City, School District and County (Regions of 65,000 Residents or More)
- Insured/Uninsured Children Who Have Special Health Care Needs, by Type of Insurance (California & U.S. Only)
- Access to Services for Children with Special Needs
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- Children with Special Health Care Needs Who Need Five or More Services (California & U.S. Only)
- Children with Special Health Care Needs Who Had a Preventive Medical Visit in the Last Year (California & U.S. Only)
- Referrals to Specialty Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Unmet Needs for Health Services Among Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Usual Source of Health Care Among Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Insurance Coverage for Children with Special Health Care Needs
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- Insurance Coverage for Children with Special Health Care Needs, by Insurance Status (California & Other States Only)
- Insurance Coverage for Children with Special Health Care Needs (Regions of 70,000 Residents or More)
- Consistency of Insurance Coverage, by Special Needs Status (California & U.S. Only)
- Adequacy of Insurance Coverage Among Insured Children, by Special Needs Status (California & U.S. Only)
- Adequacy of Insurance Coverage Among Children with Special Health Care Needs (Regions of 70,000 Residents or More)
- Impact of Special Health Care Needs on Children & Families
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- Children with Special Health Care Needs Whose Conditions Caused Family Financial Problems (California & Other States Only)
- Children with Special Health Care Needs Whose Conditions Consistently and/or Greatly Affect Their Daily Activities (California & U.S. Only)
- Children with Special Health Care Needs Whose Families Spend 11 Hours or More a Week on the Child’s Health Care (California & U.S. Only)
- Children with Special Health Care Needs Whose Family Member(s) Avoided Changing Jobs Due to Health Insurance (California & U.S. Only)
- Children Whose Parents Experienced Stress Due to Parenting, by Child's Special Needs Status (California & U.S. Only)
- Impact of Child's Special Health Care Needs on Parental Employment (California & U.S. Only)
- Out-of-Pocket Expenses for Children with Special Health Care Needs, by Adequacy of Insurance (California & U.S. Only)
- Overnight Hospital Stays Among Children with Special Health Care Needs (California Only)
- Repeating a Grade in School, by Special Needs Status (California & U.S. Only)
- School Days Missed Among Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Quality of Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs
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- Children with Special Health Care Needs Who Receive Care that Meets Federal Minimum Quality Standards (California & U.S. Only)
- Receipt of Effective Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & Other States Only)
- Receipt of Family-Centered Health Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Children with Special Health Care Needs Whose Families Feel Engaged in Shared Decision-Making with Providers (California & U.S. Only)
- Receipt of Care Within a Medical Home for Children with Special Health Care Needs (California & U.S. Only)
- Receipt of Care Within a Medical Home for Children with Special Health Care Needs (Regions of 70,000 Residents or More)
- Pupil Support Services
- Health Care
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- Visited the Emergency Room in Last Year, by Type of Insurance
- Usual Source of Health Care
- Health Insurance Coverage (Regions of 65,000 Residents or More), by Age Group
- Health Insurance Coverage (Regions of 10,000 Residents or More), by Age Group
- Medicaid (Medi-Cal) or CHIP Coverage, by City, School District and County (Regions of 65,000 Residents or More)
- Medicaid (Medi-Cal) and CHIP Yearly Enrollment (California & U.S. Only)
- Medi-Cal Point-in-Time Enrollment
- Receipt of Care Within a Medical Home (Regions of 65,000 Residents or More)
- School Health Centers
- School Provides Adequate Health Services (Staff Reported)
- Health Status
- Hospitalizations
- School Attendance and Discipline
- Why This Topic Is Important
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Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among children in the U.S. and a leading cause of hospitalizations and absences from school (1, 2). Asthma rates vary by region, demographics, environment, physician diagnostic practices, and access to care. Although identifying the impact of independent risk factors for asthma is difficult, low-income and minority children are at disproportionately high risk for severe symptoms, missed school days, and emergency room visits due to asthma (1, 2, 3).
Asthma sufferers often manage symptoms with medication, trigger avoidance, and regular medical monitoring (1, 2). However, children who face cost barriers to medication or treatment are less likely to have well-controlled asthma than children with access to regular medical care, and may repeatedly be absent from school when their asthma flares up (1, 2, 3).For more information on childhood asthma, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section.
Sources for this narrative:
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2013). America's children and the environment (3rd ed.). Retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/ace/americas-children-and-environment-third-edition
2. California Environmental Health Tracking Program. (2015). Costs of environmental health conditions in California children. Public Health Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.phi.org/resources/?resource=cehtpkidshealthcosts
3. Milet, M., et al. (2013). Asthma in California: A surveillance report. California Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Investigations Branch. Retrieved from: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/WRAPP/CDPH%20Document%20Library/Asthma_in_California2013.pdf - How Children Are Faring
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In 2015-2016, an estimated 15% of California children ages 1-17 had been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, similar to estimates from previous years. While asthma does not result in hospitalization for most children, there were 8,694 hospitalizations for asthma among children 0-17 statewide in 2016, a rate of 9.4 hospitalizations per 10,000 children. Among counties with data, childhood asthma hospitalization rates ranged from 4.2 per 10,000 (Santa Cruz) to 17.7 per 10,000 (Fresno). Statewide, rates of asthma hospitalization are higher for children ages 0-4 (16.9 per 10,000 in 2016) than for older children ages 5-17 (6.7 per 10,000 in 2016).
- Policy Implications
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While asthma can be debilitating, even life-threatening, it usually is a controllable disease. Asthma can be triggered by environmental conditions such as outdoor air pollution, tobacco smoke, and poor indoor air quality, as well as by other causes such as viral infections and exercise (1). State, local, and school policies that reduce asthma triggers and that facilitate effective management and treatment of asthma can have positive effects on asthma rates and other health outcomes.
Policy options that could influence asthma rates, treatment, and health consequences include:- Ensuring that all children have adequate, accessible, and affordable health care and insurance coverage for effective prevention and treatment of asthma, which includes coverage for asthma medications and supplies (2)
- Enforcing laws and regulations that limit air pollution from vehicles, agricultural and industrial practices, and other sources (1, 3)
- Strengthening school policies that educate students, staff, and parents on asthma care, improve indoor air quality, make it easy for students to manage their asthma at school, and facilitate communication and record sharing among families, schools, and health care providers (1, 4)
- Promoting community-wide, integrated interventions that decrease the burden of asthma on high-risk populations, including outreach and education, home visiting, and reduction of asthma triggers in homes, schools, child care centers, and workplaces (1, 2)
- Funding tobacco control efforts, including restricting access to cigarettes, increasing the availability and use of smoking cessation programs, and limiting smoking in multi-unit housing, as smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke harms lung function and can increase asthmatic symptoms (2, 5)
For more policy ideas, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section or visit California Breathing. Also see the following topics on kidsdata.org: Hospitalizations and Air Quality.
Sources for this narrative:
1. Milet, M., et al. (2013). Asthma in California: A surveillance report. California Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Investigations Branch. Retrieved from: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/WRAPP/CDPH%20Document%20Library/Asthma_in_California2013.pdf
2. California Department of Public Health. (2015). Strategic plan for asthma in California: 2015-2019. Retrieved from: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/EHIB/CPE/CDPH Document Library/SPAC2014_7-28-15APR.pdf
3. McConnell, R., et al. (2010). Childhood incident asthma and traffic-related air pollution at home and school. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118(7), 1021-1026. Retrieved from: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.0901232
4. Wheeler, L., et al. (2010). Working with schools to improve pediatric asthma management. Pediatric Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology, 22(4), 197-207. Retrieved from: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/pai.2009.0023
5. Kit, B. K., et al. (2013). U.S. prevalence and trends in tobacco smoke exposure among children and adolescents with asthma. Pediatrics, 131(3), 407-414. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/131/3/407 - Research & Links
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- Websites with Related Information
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- California Air Resources Board: Asthma and Air Pollution
- California Breathing, California Dept. of Public Health, Environmental Health Investigations Branch
- California Environmental Health Tracking Program: Asthma
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Asthma
- MedlinePlus: Asthma in Children, U.S. National Library of Medicine
- Regional Asthma Management and Prevention, Public Health Institute
- Key Reports and Research
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- America’s Children and the Environment (3rd ed.), 2013, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Association of Improved Air Quality with Lung Development in Children, 2015, New England Journal of Medicine, Gauderman, W. J., et al.
- Asthma in Children and Adolescents: Professional Resource Guide, 2014, Maternal and Child Health Digital Library, Brune Lorenzo, S.
- Asthma Prevalence in California: A Surveillance Report, 2017, California Dept. of Public Health, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, Milet, M.
- Asthma-Related School Absenteeism and School Concentration of Low-Income Students in California, 2012, Preventing Chronic Disease, Meng, Y., et al.
- Changing Trends in Asthma Prevalence Among Children, 2016, Pediatrics, Akinbami, L. J., et al.
- Children’s Environmental Health Disparities: Black and African American Children and Asthma, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Costs of Environmental Health Conditions in California Children, 2015, Public Health Institute, California Environmental Health Tracking Program
- Making Sense of Childhood Asthma: Lessons for Building a Better System of Care, 2014, Urban Institute, McDaniel, M., et al.
- Managing Asthma in the School Environment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Solutions for Asthma Disparities, 2017, Pediatrics, Volerman, A., et al.
- State of the Air, American Lung Association
- The Indoor Environment and Inner-City Childhood Asthma, 2014, Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology, Kanchongkittiphon, W., et al.
- Trends in Pediatric and Adult Hospital Stays for Asthma, 2000-2010, 2014, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Barrett, M. L., et al.
- County/Regional Reports
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- Breathing Easy? Child Asthma in Los Angeles County, 2014, Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health
- Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan, Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health
- Key Indicators of Health by Service Planning Area, 2017, Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health
- Near-Roadway Pollution and Childhood Asthma: Implications for Developing “Win–Win” Compact Urban Development and Clean Vehicle Strategies, 2012, Environmental Health Perspectives, Perez, L., et al.
- San Mateo County All Together Better, San Mateo County Health
- More Data Sources For Asthma
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- Asthma Surveillance Data, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- California Breathing: County Asthma Data Tool, California Dept. of Public Health, Environmental Health Investigations Branch
- California Environmental Health Tracking Program: Asthma Data Query
- California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal, California Health and Human Services Agency
- California Health Interview Survey, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
- Child Trends Databank: Asthma
- Childstats.gov, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
- National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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