Household exposure factors, asthma, and school absenteeism in a predominantly Hispanic community

Abstract

The Passaic Asthma Reduction Effort (PARÉ ) used an asthma symptom and household exposure factor questionnaire to screen 4634 elementary school children over a 4-year period in Passaic, New Jersey. During the first year, an additional 240 preschool children were also screened. Overall, 16% of the school children were reported by their parents to have been diagnosed with asthma. In all, 30% of responding families claimed to have at least one family member diagnosed with asthma and this was five times more likely if the target child had asthma. Exposures consistently associated with childhood asthma diagnosis included environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), presence of dampness/mold, roaches, and furry pets in the home. Diagnosis of asthma was primarily associated with all six symptoms used in the PARÉ questionnaire, and secondarily with environmental factors. Puerto Rican and black children had the highest asthma prevalence (26% and 33%), while Mexican children had the lowest (7%). Use of medications and school absenteeism among asthmatic children were associated with wheeze and night cough, but not with any specific environmental exposure. Increased school absenteeism by children undiagnosed with asthma was associated with ETS and dampness/mold in the home. Differences in asthma diagnosis and absenteeism in response to environmental factors were found across ethnic subgroups. Getting asthmatic children on medical management protocols and providing families with education about environmental risk reduction should aid in reducing morbidity in this ethnically complex population. Such coordinated efforts offer the promise of reducing school absenteeism.

School Absenteeism Among Children Living With Smokers

“…A second study, conducted among mostly Hispanic preschool through fifth grade students in Passaic, New Jersey, from 1997 to 2001, tracked the relationship between household asthma triggers and both asthma and absenteeism. 19 Using TSE and outcome measures similar to ours, the authors found the relative risk of absenteeism was higher for children with TSE. However, aside from race/ethnicity, there were no sociodemographic controls used in this study.…”

“…18 Geographically and demographically limited studies indicate that TSE exposure leads to school absenteeism in young children, and there has been some investigation of specific mechanisms. 19,20 Not only is school absenteeism a measure of health, it also has non-health effects. Children frequently absent from school because of asthma or other chronic illnesses have poorer school performance, as well as poorer social and intellectual growth.…”

Association between domestic mould and mould components, and asthma and allergy in children: a systematic review

“…DIJKSTRA [29] DALES [16] DALES [32] PONSONBY [18] ZHENG [27] CHEN [25] FREEMAN [20] FREEMAN substudy [20] SPENGLER [19] PEKKANEN [33] DONG [17] DONG [22] ANTOVA [15] WARMAN [24] Summary (OR FAGBULE [34] VERHOEFF [31] LI [26] LI [35] MAIER [28] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [21] STRACHAN [37] STRACHAN [38] DIJKSTRA [29] DALES [16] SPENGLER [19] EMENIUS [36] ALPER [39] DONG [17] DONG [22] ANTOVA [15] ROSENBAUM [43] IOSSIFOVA [8] KARVONEN [42] Summary (OR LI [26] MAIER [28] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [23] CHEN [25] BIAGINI [45] IBARGOYEN-ROTETA [44] KOSKINEN substudy [47] KOSKINEN [47] LI [26] LI [35] BRUNEKREEF [21] DONG …”

Parental Numeracy and Asthma Exacerbations in Puerto Rican Children

“…Because of their potential correlation with numeracy and/or the outcomes of interest, the following covariates were examined in bivariate analyses: age, sex, parental asthma, BMI 23 as a z score (based on 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts 24 ), household income (less than vs Ն $15,000/y [near the median income for households in Puerto Rico in 2008-2009 25 ]), type of health insurance (private or employer-based health insurance vs others), one or more positive allergen-specifi c IgE, parental education (one or more parents completed high school vs none), parental report of the child's use of ICS in the prior 6 months, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, 26 and in utero smoking.…”