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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Leslie P. Boss, MPH, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., MS E-17, Atlanta, GA 30329, 404-498-1002, LPB1@cdc.gov
Asthma is a very common disease affecting approximately 14.6 million persons of all ages and races, i.e., roughly 1 in 17 Americans. It causes significant morbidity resulting in approximately 13.9 million outpatient visits, 2.0 million emergency department visits; 423,000 hospitalizations and 5438 deaths in 1998. During the past two decades, rates of prevalence and various measures of disease severity have increased, particularly among African Americans. Prior to the late 1990s, asthma was not a disease typically addressed in the sphere of public health. That changed approximately five years ago with the implementation of a program by CDC in 1998. Baseline data were collected from staff of state health agencies in January, 1998 and additional assessments occurred at two year intervals in January 2000 and January 2002. Data collection is complete for 2002; however, analysis will not be completed until April 2002. For 1998 and 2000 respectively, the percent of state health agencies with an office responsible for asthma increased from 33% to 69%; the percent with any asthma surveillance activities increasing from 36% to 46% with most agencies having only mortality data available; and the percent with asthma coalitions in their state increased from 44% to 79%. Information will be reported on availability by state of a variety of diverse sources for asthma surveillance, asthma intervention activities, policies, and funding sources.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Surveillance, Asthma
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: All state health agencies
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.