Skip to main content
PMC home page
Public Health Reports logoLink to Public Health Reports
. 1997 May-Jun;112(3):198–205.

Asthma. The states' challenge.

C M Brown 1, H A Anderson 1, R A Etzel 1
PMCID: PMC1381991  PMID: 9160053

Abstract

At the national level, asthma is increasingly being recognized as an important public health problem. Because of the significant role of environmental exposure in asthma morbidity, public health agencies have a critical role to play in the surveillance and prevention of the disease. In April 1996, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, with assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surveyed state and territorial public health departments to determine the status of their asthma surveillance and intervention programs. Of the 51 health departments that responded, only eight reported that they had implemented an asthma control program within the previous 10 years. Reasons cited for not having programs included lack of funds, shortage of personnel, and asthma not being a priority. Most states were unable to assess the burden of asthma because they lack data or face barriers to using existing data. Removing barriers to the use of data is a first step toward defining the scope of the asthma problem.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

198p198-a
on p.198
200p200-a
on p.200
203p203-a
on p.203

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Call R. S., Smith T. F., Morris E., Chapman M. D., Platts-Mills T. A. Risk factors for asthma in inner city children. J Pediatr. 1992 Dec;121(6):862–866. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(05)80329-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carswell F., Robinson E. J., Hek G., Shenton T. A Bristol experience: benefits and cost of an 'asthma nurse' visiting the homes of asthmatic children. Bristol Med Chir J. 1989 Feb;104(1):11–12. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ehnert B., Lau-Schadendorf S., Weber A., Buettner P., Schou C., Wahn U. Reducing domestic exposure to dust mite allergen reduces bronchial hyperreactivity in sensitive children with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1992 Jul;90(1):135–138. doi: 10.1016/s0091-6749(06)80024-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fitzgerald S. T., Huss K., Huss R. W. The diagnosis and management of asthma: an update. AAOHN J. 1996 Feb;44(2):94–104. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gergen P. Social class and asthma--distinguishing between the disease and the diagnosis. Am J Public Health. 1996 Oct;86(10):1361–1362. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.10.1361. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Huss K., Rand C. S., Butz A. M., Eggleston P. A., Murigande C., Thompson L. C., Schneider S., Weeks K., Malveaux F. J. Home environmental risk factors in urban minority asthmatic children. Ann Allergy. 1994 Feb;72(2):173–177. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kang B. C., Johnson J., Veres-Thorner C. Atopic profile of inner-city asthma with a comparative analysis on the cockroach-sensitive and ragweed-sensitive subgroups. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1993 Dec;92(6):802–811. doi: 10.1016/0091-6749(93)90057-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kang B., Vellody D., Homburger H., Yunginger J. W. Cockroach cause of allergic asthma. Its specificity and immunologic profile. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1979 Feb;63(2):80–86. doi: 10.1016/0091-6749(79)90196-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Malveaux F. J., Houlihan D., Diamond E. L. Characteristics of asthma mortality and morbidity in African-Americans. J Asthma. 1993;30(6):431–437. doi: 10.3109/02770909309056751. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Martinez F. D., Cline M., Burrows B. Increased incidence of asthma in children of smoking mothers. Pediatrics. 1992 Jan;89(1):21–26. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Murray A. B., Morrison B. J. The decrease in severity of asthma in children of parents who smoke since the parents have been exposing them to less cigarette smoke. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1993 Jan;91(1 Pt 1):102–110. doi: 10.1016/0091-6749(93)90302-v. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Oliveti J. F., Kercsmar C. M., Redline S. Pre- and perinatal risk factors for asthma in inner city African-American children. Am J Epidemiol. 1996 Mar 15;143(6):570–577. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a008787. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Sporik R., Holgate S. T., Platts-Mills T. A., Cogswell J. J. Exposure to house-dust mite allergen (Der p I) and the development of asthma in childhood. A prospective study. N Engl J Med. 1990 Aug 23;323(8):502–507. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199008233230802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. St Peter R. F., Newacheck P. W., Halfon N. Access to care for poor children. Separate and unequal? JAMA. 1992 May 27;267(20):2760–2764. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Starfield B. Public health and primary care: a framework for proposed linkages. Am J Public Health. 1996 Oct;86(10):1365–1369. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.10.1365. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Terr A. I., Bloch D. A. Trends in asthma therapy in the United States: 1965-1992. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 1996 Mar;76(3):273–281. doi: 10.1016/S1081-1206(10)63441-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Teutsch S. M. A framework for assessing the effectiveness of disease and injury prevention. MMWR Recomm Rep. 1992 Mar 27;41(RR-3):1–12. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Weiss K. B., Gergen P. J., Crain E. F. Inner-city asthma. The epidemiology of an emerging US public health concern. Chest. 1992 Jun;101(6 Suppl):362S–367S. doi: 10.1378/chest.101.6.362s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Weiss K. B., Gergen P. J., Hodgson T. A. An economic evaluation of asthma in the United States. N Engl J Med. 1992 Mar 26;326(13):862–866. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199203263261304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Weitzman M., Gortmaker S. L., Sobol A. M., Perrin J. M. Recent trends in the prevalence and severity of childhood asthma. JAMA. 1992 Nov 18;268(19):2673–2677. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. White M. C., Etzel R. A., Wilcox W. D., Lloyd C. Exacerbations of childhood asthma and ozone pollution in Atlanta. Environ Res. 1994 Apr;65(1):56–68. doi: 10.1006/enrs.1994.1021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. de Blay F., Chapman M. D., Platts-Mills T. A. Airborne cat allergen (Fel d I). Environmental control with the cat in situ. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1991 Jun;143(6):1334–1339. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm/143.6.1334. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Public Health Reports are provided here courtesy of SAGE Publications

RESOURCES