Journal Article

Socioeconomic Status and Childhood Asthma in Urban Minority Youths. The GALA II and SAGE II Studies

Gignoux, Christopher R., Meade, Kelley, Nguyen, Elizabeth A., Rodriguez-Santana, Jose R., Brigino-Buenaventura, Emerita, Serebrisky, Denise, Rodriguez-Cintron, William, Borrell, Luisa N., Eng, Celeste, Williams, L. Keoki, Sen, Saunak, Oh, Sam S., Farber, Harold J., Kumar, Rajesh, Roth, Lindsey A., Galanter, Joshua, Avila, Pedro C., Thakur, Neeta, Davis, Adam, Burchard, Esteban G., Martin, Melissa, Thyne, Shannon, LeNoir, Michael A., Bibbins-Domingo, Kirsten

2013

Overview

The burden of asthma is highest among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations; however, its impact is differentially distributed among racial and ethnic groups. To assess the collective effect of maternal educational attainment, annual household income, and insurance type on childhood asthma among minority, urban youth. We included Mexican American (n = 485), other Latino (n = 217), and African American (n = 1,141) children (aged 8-21 yr) with and without asthma from the San Francisco Bay Area. An index was derived from maternal educational attainment, annual household income, and insurance type to assess the collective effect of socioeconomic status on predicting asthma. Logistic regression stratified by racial and ethnic group was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). We further examined whether acculturation explained the socioeconomic-asthma association in our Latino population. In the adjusted analyses, African American children had 23% greater odds of asthma with each decrease in the socioeconomic index (aOR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09-1.38). Conversely, Mexican American children have 17% reduced odds of asthma with each decrease in the socioeconomic index (aOR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.72-0.96) and this relationship was not fully explained by acculturation. This association was not observed in the other Latino group. Socioeconomic status plays an important role in predicting asthma, but has different effects depending on race and ethnicity. Further steps are necessary to better understand the risk factors through which socioeconomic status could operate in these populations to prevent asthma.

• Publisher: American Thoracic Society,Oxford University Press
• Subject: Adolescent / African Americans / African Americans - statistics & numerical data / Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy / Asthma - economics / Asthma - ethnology / Biological and medical sciences / Case-Control Studies / Child / Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma / Educational Status / Female / Hispanic Americans / Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data / Humans / Income - statistics & numerical data / Insurance, Health - statistics & numerical data / Intensive care medicine / Logistic Models / Male / Medical sciences / Mexican Americans - statistics & numerical data / Minority & ethnic groups / Minority Health - economics / Minority Health - ethnology / Minority Health - statistics & numerical data / Odds Ratio / Pneumology / Risk Factors / San Francisco - epidemiology / Social Class / Socioeconomic factors / Surveys and Questionnaires / Urban Health - economics / Urban Health - ethnology / Urban Health - statistics & numerical data / Young Adult