Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114534

Mary Johnson, MSc¹, Jerome Nriagu, PhD¹, Adnan Hammad, PhD², Kathryn Savoie, PhD², and Hikmet J. Jamil, MD PhD FFOMI³. (1) Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 109 Oabservatory Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, 734-222-9419, Maryjz@umich.edu, (2) Community Health & Research Center, ACCESS, 6450 Maple Street, Dearborn, MI 48126, (3) Wayne State University Department of Family Medicine, ACCESS Community Health & Research Center, 6450 Maple Street, Dearborn, MI 48126

The importance of environmental risk factors in asthma etiology has been well-documented, while environmental lead exposure has been causally linked with hypertension. Recent studies have attempted to explore whether lead exposure is a risk factor for asthma with inconclusive results. However, few previous studies have explored the relationship between hypertension and asthma. This study explores the relationships between hypertension, asthma and environmental risk factors in a population of 600 Arab American adults in the Metro Detroit area. We used an Environmental Risk Index (ERI) to quantify household environmental risk factors associated with asthma; physician diagnosed hypertension was self-reported. Asthma status was determined using responses to a validated symptoms checklist and self-reported diagnosis by a physician. Hypertension was significantly associated with asthma after adjusting for age, gender, health care access, and socio-economic status. Comparing the relationship between environmental risk factors and asthma, we found that ERI was ignificantly associated with asthma among participants with and without hypertension; however, the relationship between environmental risk factors and asthma was stronger among participants with hypertension. This interaction was stronger among women in the study population, and was statistically significant adjusting for age, health care access, and socio-economic status. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that lead exposure increases asthma risk. They are also consistent with the disproportionate asthma risk associated with obesity among women. Our results also suggest that hypertension may impact asthma not only through shared risk factors, but through an increased vulnerability to environmental stressors.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to

• Articulate the relationship between high cholesterol, environmental risk factors, and asthma among Arab Americans in Metro Detroit
• Discuss the impact of high cholesterol and environmental risk factors on asthma among different subsets of the Arab American community such as women, home-owners, and the elderly.
• Apply relationships reported in this presentation to the development of more effective intervention strategies for targeting high-risk members of low-income, minority populations.

Keywords: Cholesterol, Asthma

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.