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 Instead, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found
that being poor, black or Puerto Rican are the most important
factors that determine a child's asthma risk.
"Our results highlight the changing face of pediatric asthma and
suggest that living in an urban area is, by itself, not a risk
factor for asthma," said Dr. Corinne Keet, a pediatric allergy and
asthma specialist at Johns Hopkins, whose study was published on
Tuesday in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Although prior studies have looked at asthma rates within specific
cities, no study has compared asthma rates in inner city areas
across the United States, or looked at how asthma compares in other
types of communities, Keet said.
To arrive at that, the researchers used national survey data on more
than 23,000 children aged 6 to 17 between 2009-2011. The team looked
at rates of asthma based on population figures as well as factors
such as income, race and ethnicity.
After adjusting for those factors, they found no statistically
significant difference in the rates of asthma between inner-city
children and those who lived elsewhere.
Instead, they found Black or Puerto Rican children had far higher
asthma rates, at 17 and 20 percent, respectively, compared with
white children (10 percent), other Hispanic children (9 percent) and
Asian children (8 percent).
Although the study did not look at why, the researchers did note
that other studies suggest potential genetic and biologic causes for
these racial and ethnic differences.
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The team also saw wide variation by geography, with 17 percent of
children living in Northeastern cities having asthma, compared with
8 percent in cities located in western states.
Asthma was not confined to cities. For example, asthma rates were 21
percent in poor suburban areas of the Northeast, compared with 17
percent in neighboring cities.
The study did not look at factors that influence the severity of
asthma, which could very well be more prevalent in cities, the
authors said. That will be a subject of a follow-on study.
Asthma affects 6.8 million children, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen. Editing by Andre Grenon)
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