Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits in North Carolina, 2010–2014

Connecting Environmental Justice and Community Health

“…Sandy soils and a high water table may facilitate the spread of contaminants into ground and surface water following waste-spraying on fields or unintentional releases from lagoons during flood events and hurricanes [20]. Affected communities are known to experience high rates of chronic conditions including asthma and heart disease that may increase the risk of adverse health outcomes from airborne exposures [35,36]. These communities also have high proportions of uninsured residents, potentially creating challenges to accessing medical care and preventive services [36].…”

Exploring a broader context of the home environment and its relationship with asthma control in American Indian children

“…In North Carolina (NC), racial disparities in asthma morbidity reflect national trends: for example, among children ages 0–14, the number of asthma‐related hospital discharges in American Indian children is greater than 3.4 times the number in White children (245 vs. 71.8 per 100,000, respectively; Bell, Foglia, & Ries, 2017). Concentrated largely in the least resourced counties in rural Southeastern NC, American Indian children are at particular risk based on geographic disparities in asthma and asthma morbidities burdening rural and impoverished counties disproportionately (Dieu, Kearney, Bian, Jones, & Mohan, 2018; Estrada & Ownby, 2017). Achieving better asthma control in high‐risk groups such as American Indians is a practical step toward narrowing the racial disparities gap in childhood asthma.…”