 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Nazerah Shaikh, MPH1, Adam Davis, MPH, MA2, Rick Kreutzer, MD1, Greg Austin3, and Michael Lipsett, MD4. (1) Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-622-4475, nshaikh@dhs.ca.gov, (2) American Lung Association of the East Bay, 295 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612, (3) Human Development Department, WestEd Lab, 4665 Lampson Avenue, Los Alamitos, CA 90033, (4) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency, 1515 Clay Street, 16th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612
Purpose: Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease among school-aged children in the US and is the primary reason for school absences. We assessed asthma prevalence among California children using a school-based health survey. Methods: The California Healthy Kids Survey is a self-administered, cross-sectional health and behavior survey made available by the California Department of Education to all public schools Approximately 3/4 of the schooll districts in California administer this survey within a two-year cycle. In fall 2001, a lifetime asthma prevalence question was added to the core module and four asthma symptom questions were added to an optional module. Data for 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students were available from 1,465 schools in 387 districts for 2001-2002. Results: Of the 222,869 responding students, 41,071 (18.4%) reported a physician's diagnosis of asthma, with lifetime prevalence rates ranging from 11.0-26.1%. Lifetime prevalence was higher among males (19.1%) than females (17.8%). Among ethnic groups, African-Americans had the highest (25.6%) and Hispanics had the lowest (15.5%) lifetime prevalence. Asthma prevalence was higher among adolescents who reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days (23.2%) than those who did not (17.9%) and highest among those who reported smoking for >=20 days in the past month (25.6%). Of the 22,197 students responding to the optional module, 869 (5.6%) sought medical care for asthma symptoms in the past year but did not report a previous diagnosis of asthma. Conclusion: Existing school-based surveys can be used to assess asthma prevalence and risk factors. Further analysis will determine the feasibility of using such surveys for statewide asthma surveillance.
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.