Impact of Hurricane Harvey on Inpatient Asthma Hospitalization Visits Within Southeast Texas, 2016–2019

Abstract

Objective To estimate inpatient asthma hospital visit rates among impacted Texans in Public Health Region 6/5S during the year of and following Hurricane Harvey. Methods Asthma inpatient hospitalization discharges were collected from the Texas Health Care Information Collection database (2016-2019). Results Females (age-adjusted rates/AARs = 4.8-5.0) and Black Texans (AARs = 5.0-8.1) experienced significantly higher AARs compared to males and White Texans during the year of and following Harvey. During the year of Hurricane Harvey, females were 1.49 times as likely to have an inpatient asthma visit compared to males, while Black Texans were 2.78 times as likely to have an inpatient asthma hospitalization compared to White Texans. Conclusions Findings from this study may assist public health professionals and local officials to allocate future resources to the most impacted subgroups as well as establish effective processes to mitigate consequences.