Research on Asthma
Researchers at UCLA CHPR examined the relationship between social position (e.g., poverty level, age, gender, race, ethnicity), environmental context (e.g., traffic/air pollutants near homes, access to care), and health behaviors (e.g., smoking, overweight/obesity) with various asthma health outcomes. Examples of recent research using UCLA CHPR data include a look at which California children had the highest prevalence of asthma (Black or African American children; men; children ages 6–11; children whose parent spoke English very well) and how — or whether — they managed symptoms; students missing school due to asthma; and the variation in asthma rates among subgroups of Asian children (8.7% of Korean children, compared with 16.1% of Filipino children).
Research on adults included an analysis of the likelihood of a nonsmoker having an asthma attack after exposure to secondhand smoke compared with someone not exposed (109% higher odds among men); whether a patient’s food insecurity was tied to a delay them refilling their asthma medicine prescription; and the effect policy changes that lowered truck traffic pollution in port-adjacent neighborhoods had on Medi-Cal patients’ emergency room use for asthma and chronic pulmonary disease visits.
