Table 2.

Baseline access to care and morbidity of HEAL children (%) by parish.

All (n = 182)	Orleans Parish [n = 126 (69%)]	Jefferson Parisha [n = 56 (31%)]	p-Value
Access to care
Usual place for follow-up asthma care for child	85	80	96	< 0.01
Pre-Katrina: location of asthma care	< 0.01
Emergency department	13	17	2
Clinic/office	74	70	84
Both	13	13	13
Previous 12 months: location of asthma care	0.06
Emergency department	12	15	3
Clinic/office	76	72	86
Both	12	13	11
Financial/insurance problems affecting asthma meds	12	14	9	0.46
Baseline morbidity
Symptoms 2 weeks before baseline
MSDsb	6.64 ± 4.86	6.17 ± 4.71	7.70 ± 5.06	0.05
Days of wheeze	5.34 ± 4.54	4.81 ± 4.27	6.52 ± 4.92	0.02
Days child slowed down/stopped play	3.22 ± 3.93	3.10 ± 3.78	3.48 ± 4.27	0.55
Nights child woke due to asthma	3.29 ± 4.16	3.31 ± 4.14	3.23 ± 4.25	0.91
School days missed due to asthma	24	23	27	0.58
Caretakerb
Nights caretaker woke due to child’s asthma	2.99 ± 4.35	3.15 ± 4.46	2.63 ± 4.11	0.45
Days caretaker changed plans	0.88 ± 1.66	0.85 ± 1.59	0.95 ± 1.82	0.72
Lung functionb
Percent predicted FEV1	91.05 ± 16.74	92.83 ± 16.25	88.34 ± 17.34	0.21
FEV1/FVC ratio	78.22 ± 10.13	79.50 ± 8.79	76.28 ± 11.75	0.13
Health care utilizationc
At least 1 unscheduled visit (ED or clinic)	76	72	86	0.06
At least 1 prednisone burst	19	17	23	–0.49
At least 1 hospitalization due to asthma	3	2	5	0.37
aIncludes children recruited from Jefferson (49), St. Bernard (5), St. Tammany (2), and Plaquemines (0) parishes. bMean ± SD. cHospitalizations and unscheduled visits in the previous 3 months. Prednisone in the previous 1 month.