 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Julie Von Behren, MPH, Rick Kreutzer, MD, and Nazerah Shaikh, MPH. Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-622-4499, JVonBehr@dhs.ca.gov
Purpose: Wide variations in asthma hospitalization and prevalence rates have been observed among California counties. As part of ongoing asthma surveillance in California, we compared asthma hospitalization and prevalence rates by county. Methods: Hospitalization rates for the year 2000 were calculated from the state hospital discharge database and county population estimates. Asthma prevalence information and percent uninsured was available from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. County level indicators on race/ethnicity, income, and poverty were obtained from the U.S. 2000 Census. We used linear regression to examine how these factors correlated with hospitalization and prevalence rates. Results: Statewide asthma prevalence was 8.8% and the overall hospitalization was 10.7 per 10,000 people. Hospitalization rates were not correlated with asthma prevalence rates. The percent of the county population that was African American and the percent below poverty were significantly and positively correlated with both hospitalization and prevalence rates. The percent of the county population that was Hispanic was positively correlated with hospitalization rates and negatively correlated with prevalence. The percent uninsured was not correlated with either hospitalization or prevalence rates. In subsequent multivariate models, percent African-American and percent below proverty remained significantly correlated with hospitalization rates. conclusions: Asthma prevalence rates do not correlate with hospitalization rates at the county level. Racial composition and poverty level are better predictors of asthma hospitalization rates than asthma prevalence or percent uninsured. This analysis will be repeated at the zip code level to further examine the relationships between hospitalization rates, income, and race.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Asthma, Surveillance
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.