Asthma - Children in California

California

Asthma is a serious chronic disease that affects the airways. It can cause wheezing, difficulty breathing and coughing. Not everyone who has asthma has these symptoms and having these symptoms doesn't always mean someone has asthma. If not properly treated, asthma can be life-threatening.

An estimated 4 million children in the United States currently have asthma. Some children have asthma throughout their life, while others only have symptoms during childhood. In some cases, symptoms may go away for a few years and return in adulthood.

There are many risk factors for childhood asthma, including:

• Having allergies or a family history of allergies.
• Getting frequent respiratory infections.
• Low birthweight. 
• Exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Growing up in a low-income environment.

Childhood asthma has negative educational and economic impacts. Children with asthma miss an additional 2.3 days of school per year on average compared with their peers without asthma. A 2015 study estimated the annual costs of pediatric asthma in the U.S. at $5.92 billion.

Populations of children who are more likely to have asthma include: 

• Boys compared with girls.
• Children ages 6 and older compared with children ages 0-5.
• Black children compared with Hispanic, non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Asian children.
• Children living below the federal poverty level compared with children from higher-income households. 

A doctor can determine if a child has asthma by asking questions about their breathing and family history. The doctor might perform a spirometry test to see how well a child’s lungs work. Asthma can be controlled by avoiding asthma triggers and following a doctor’s advice. Common asthma triggers include tobacco smoke, dust mites, outdoor air pollution, pets and mold. Other interventions like home visits and school-centered asthma programs can help improve asthma complications in children and reduce costs for families. 

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps found that having a professional perform a healthy home environment assessment reduces exposure to allergens, improves air quality and leads to better self-management of asthma.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple objectives related to asthma, reducing emergency department visits and hospitalizations for children with asthma and reducing the overall rates of asthma attacks and asthma deaths.

Liptzin, Deborah R., Melanie C. Gleason, Lisa C. Cicutto, Chris L. Cleveland, Donna J. Shocks, Martha K. White, Anna V. Faino, and Stanley J. Szefler. “Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a School-Centered Asthma Program: Step-Up Asthma Program.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 4, no. 5 (2016): 972-979.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2016.04.016. 

Marshall, Erica T., Jing Guo, Elizabeth Flood, Megan T. Sandel, Matthew D. Sadof, and Jean M. Zotter. “Home Visits for Children With Asthma Reduce Medicaid Costs.” Preventing Chronic Disease 17 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd17.190288. 

Nurmagambetov, Tursynbek, Robin Kuwahara, and Paul Garbe. “The Economic Burden of Asthma in the United States, 2008–2013.” Annals of the American Thoracic Society 15, no. 3 (2018): 348–56. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201703-259OC. 

Sullivan, Patrick W., Vahram Ghushchyan, Prakash Navaratnam, Howard S. Friedman, Abhishek Kavati, Benjamin Ortiz, and Bob Lanier. “The National Cost of Asthma among School-Aged Children in the United States.” Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 119, no. 3 (2017): 246-252.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2017.07.002.