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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Amy M. Bartels, MPH, L. William Seidman Research Institute, Arizona State University, PO Box 874011, Tempe, AZ 85287-4011, 480-727-0527, amy.bartels@asu.edu and Mary E. Rimsza, MD, School of Health Management and Policy, Arizona State University, PO Box 874011, Tempe, AZ 85287-4011.

Asthma is a chronic disease affecting both children and adults and a significant health burden in the United States. Utilizing a unique community health data base, Arizona Health Query, which contains health care information on over 5 million Arizona residents, we examined morbidity and mortality for people with asthma with analyses by gender, race/ethnicity, insurance, age and geographic location for a large urban county. Our findings suggest the prevalence of asthma varies across geographic communities, age, and racial/ethnic groups. In 2003, 5% (56,271) of the 1,216,394 Maricopa County residents included in AZHQ for that year received care for asthma. Asthma rates are higher for children ages 5 to 14 years old than other age groups (8%). Additionally, we found that asthma rates varied by zip code in Maricopa County. Compared to the zip codes with the lowest rates, the zip codes with high rates of asthma also had higher rates of poverty (15.5% to 3.5%), a higher percentage of Blacks in the area (9.6% to 0.9%), and fewer people with a high school education (75.5% to 96.3%). Blacks and American Indians had the highest rate of asthma and they also had higher number of ED visits per person for asthma than other racial/ethnic groups. Approximately one-third of all ED visits for Blacks who have chronic asthma was for asthma-related disease, averaging 1.6 visits per person over a three year period. The majority of people seeking health care for asthma had public insurance, 9% were uninsured at some time in 2003. The uninsured used the ED more for asthma related visits, with one visit per person compared to 0.6 visits for privately insured and 0.3 for publicly insured. The highest rate of health care utilization for asthma was among people who were both publicly and privately insured in 2003 (9%). Conclusion: In Maricopa County asthma is a significant health problem and needs to be addressed. The results provide valuable information to the community to assist in targeting the racial, ethnic and age groups in greatest need of services. Providing information on geographic areas with the highest prevalence of asthma can be utilized for outreach programs and also for further research into the potential risk factors for asthma in these areas, including air pollution and allergen exposure.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the geographic, racial/ethnic, insurance and age variations in utilization rates of health care for people with asthma.
• Demonstrate the value of using a community health data system for developing local asthma surveillance rates.

Keywords: Asthma, Utilization

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation