News: Asthma

Asthma Relief for Inner-City Children

December 16, 2004

Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by coughing, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing. This disease affects roughly 20 million Americans. Children who live in the in the inner city are more at risk, particularly African American and Hispanic children. They suffer disproportionately from this disease. This might stem from exposure to high levels of indoor allergens (i.e. mold, dust mites, and pets etc.). Asthma has a huge effect on society in the form of 14 million missed school days each year and $3.2 billion a year in treatment.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences co-funded a study on inner city children and what can be done to help relieve their symptoms. The participants were mostly African American or Hispanic and lived in low income sections of seven major metropolitan areas. The families of these children were given allergen reducing measures to be placed in key locations in their homes. When necessary, cockroach extermination visits were provided for those children who were allergic to cockroach allergens. All participants were closely monitored for a year.

The study found that these allergen reducing measures were shown to reduce symptoms. In other words, changes made in the home environment are just as effective in reducing symptoms as asthma inhalers.

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Source: "Customized Program Reduces Asthma-Related Illness in Inner-City Children", September 2004, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)