Black youth twice as likely to suffer from asthma-related complications
African American children are twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital for asthma-related complications.
The findings are the conclusion of a study released by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The disparity is largely due to a greater burden of financial and social hardships faced by African American families.
The findings show a path to cut health costs, rather than paying for the re-admissions, by asking doctors and community health workers to find a home delivery system of anti-asthma medications instead of forcing patients’ families to try and find find transportation to a pharmacy.
Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting 7 million American children – nearly one in 11. Childhood asthma rates in Ohio and Kentucky exceed the nation’s, with Hamilton and Warren counties’ rates ranking higher than the state’s.
One in four black children in Ohio suffer from the illness. Researchers found that 23 percent of black children were readmitted within a year, compared to 11 percent of other children, most of whom were white.
Roughly 19 percent of all children were readmitted to the hospital within 12 months.
Financial ans social hardships, such as the ability to employ caregivers, and not owning a vehicle accounted for about 40 percent of the increased likelihood of asthma readmissions among black children.
Will we continue to see health trends in black children that are a reflection from inequality in the country?
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