Asthma and African Americans

What is Asthma?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asthma is a disease that affects your lungs. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse.

How Does Asthma Affect African American Populations?

• From 2018-2020, 4.0 million non-Hispanic blacks (adults and children) reported that they currently have asthma.
• Non-Hispanic African Americans were 30 percent more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic whites, in 2019.
• In 2020, non-Hispanic blacks were almost three times more likely to die from asthma related causes than the non-Hispanic white population.
• In 2020, non-Hispanic black children had a death rate 7.6 times that of non-Hispanic white children.
• Non-Hispanic black children were 4.5 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital for asthma, as compared to non-Hispanic white children, in 2019.
• While all 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 bronchitis. Children living below or near the poverty level are more likely to have high levels of blood cotinine, a breakdown product of nicotine, than children living in higher income families.¹

Diagnosed

Source: CDC 2022. National Health Interview Survey Data 2019. Table 4-1.
https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nhis/2019/table4-1.htm