Asthma and African Americans

In 2008, about 3,807,000 African Americans reported that they currently have asthma.
African American women were 30% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic White women, from 2001-2003.
In 2006, African Americans were three times more likely to die from asthma related causes than the White population.
From 2003-2005, African American children had a death rate 7 times that of non-Hispanic White children.
African Americans had asthma-related emergency room visits 4.5 times more often than Whites in 2004.
Black children have a 260% higher emergency department visit rate, a 250% higher hospitalization rate, and a 500% higher death rate from asthma, as compared with White children.
Children in poor families are more likely to ever have been diagnosed with asthma.
While all of the causes of asthma remain unclear, children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke exposure are at increased risk for acute lower respiratory tract infections, such as asthma, and children living below or near the poverty level are more likely to have high blood cotinine levels, a breakdown product of nicotine, than children living in higher income families.

At a glance – Diagnosed:

**Estimated average annual prevalence percents for self-reported current asthma, National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2001–2003**
	African American	White	African American/ White Ratio
Men	8.2	5.8	1.4
Women	10.0	8.0	1.3
Both Sexes	9.2	6.9	1.3

Source: : CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

**Estimated average annual prevalence percents for self-reported asthma attacks, National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2001–2003**
	African American	White	African American/ White Ratio
Men	4.8	3.2	1.5
Women	5.9	4.7	1.3
Both Sexes	5.4	3.9	1.4

Source: : CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 6.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

**Percentage of asthma among persons 18 years of age and over, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
13.5	13.2	1.0

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2008. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_242.pdf [PDF | 2.61MB]

**Percent of current asthma prevalence, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
10.3	7.8	1.3

Source: CDC 2010. National Health Interview Survey. Table 4-1.
http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nhis/08/table2-1.htm

**Percent of lifetime asthma diagnosis, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
15.8	12.9	1.2

Source: CDC 2008. National Health Interview Survey. Table 2-1.
http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nhis/08/table2-1.htm

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Deaths per 100,000, with asthma as the underlying cause, National Vital Statistics System, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
2.8	0.9	3.1

Source: CDC 2009. Deaths: Final Data for 2006. Table 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_14.pdf [PDF | 1.71MB]

**Rate of death with asthma as the underlying cause per million population, National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2004**
African American	White	African American/White Ratio
30.6	10.4	2.9

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 34.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

At a Glance – Treatment:

**Estimated rate of physician office visits with asthma as the first listed diagnosis per 100 persons with asthma, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2004**
African American	White	African American/White Ratio
51.8	70.6	0.7

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 15.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

**Estimated rate of outpatient department visits with asthma as the first listed diagnosis per 10,000 population, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2004**
African American	White	African American/White Ratio
116.4	24.0	4.9

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 19.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

**Estimated rate of emergency department visits with asthma as the first listed diagnosis per 10,000 population, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2004**
African American	White	African American/White Ratio
195.0	43.6	4.5

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 24.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf [PDF | 474KB]

At a Glance – Children:

**Age-adjusted percentages for children under 18 years of age, ever being told they had asthma, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
21.2	13.0	1.6

Source: CDC, 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2008. Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_244.pdf [PDF |1.25MB]

**Asthma prevalence among children 0–17 years of age, 2003-2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
12.7	8.0	1.6

Source: CDC 2006. The State of Childhood Asthma, United States, 1980–2005. Table B.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad381.pdf [PDF | 365KB]

**Death rates for children 0–17 years of age, 2003-2005 (deaths per 1,000,000)**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.2	1.3	7.1

Source: CDC 2006. The State of Childhood Asthma, United States, 1980–2005. Table B.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad381.pdf [PDF | 365KB]

**The proportional impact of asthma prevalence, health care use and mortality among children 0–17 years of age, by race and ethnicity, United States, 2003–2004**
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Current prevalence (2004-2005)	146%	92%	1.6
Emergency department visit rate	254%	66%	3.8
Death rate	354%	50%	7.1

Source: CDC 2006. The State of Childhood Asthma, United States, 1980–2005. Table VIII.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad381.pdf [PDF | 365KB]

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Content Last Modified: 4/22/2010 11:25:00 AM