Asthma Hospitalizes More Black Kids

ROCKVILLE, MD —  According to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, black children were four times more likely than white children to be hospitalized for a severe asthma attack. 

This new information is based on information in the 2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report, which examines the disparities in Americans' access to and quality of health care, with breakdowns by race, ethnicity, income, and education.

For every 100,000 children age 2 to 17 hospitalized for asthma attacks, the federal agency’s data show that: 384 were black, 94 were white, and 135 were Hispanic. Asian and Pacific Islander children were the least likely to need inpatient hospital care for asthma (78).

Data on other disparities involving hospitalization of children for asthma, the agency found that per 100,000 children admitted:

• Children from poor families were more than twice as likely as those from high-income families to be admitted, (231 versus 102)

• Boys had about 50 percent more hospitalizations than girls, (181 versus 119).

• Children ages 2 to 4 were over 6 times more likely than children ages 15-17 to be hospitalized, (310 versus 50).

• Children in the Northeast were more likely to be hospitalized than those in the West, (196 versus 102).