School study finds 9.5 percent asthma rate among pre-high schoolers

August 24, 2005

finds_95_percent_asthma_rate_among_pre_high_schoolers/

August 23, 2005

BOSTON --Roughly 9.5 percent of pre-high school students in Massachusetts have

asthma, according to the first statewide effort to compile data from elementary

and middle school nurses.

The prevalence of the respiratory disease ranged from 8.2 percent among

kindergarteners to 10.3 percent among students in the 5th grade. It also ranged

from zero percent in schools such as the Academy of Early Learning in Barnstable

to 39.1 percent in the Boston Middle School Academy, based on data from 638,421

students enrolled in 1,664 schools during the 2003-2004 academic year.

A far smaller survey of select school districts a year earlier found an overall

asthma prevalence of 9.2 percent, and a high-water mark of 30.8 percent in

participating schools. A 2004 study by the national Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention found that 7.6 percent of U.S. children 14 and under had asthma.

Similar data was collected in Massachusetts during the most recent school year

and will be released in 2006.

" Understanding the prevalence of asthma among children for Massachusetts

communities provides a clearer understanding of patterns of asthma prevalence

that could yield clues into the causes of asthma and the increase that has been

seen in Massachusetts and throughout the country, " Cote, acting

commissioner of public health, said in a statement.

Suzanne Condon, the department's associate commissioner, said an additional

finding intrigued analysts.

" There is a great disparity in the range of prevalence within well-to-do

communities, " Condon said in an interview. " For that reason, it continues to beg

the question that people have raised historically, that low income seems to

explain high rates of the disease. "

Among the school districts with the lowest prevalence were Wellfleet (2 percent)

and Edgartown (3 percent), yet Pelham reported the highest rate (18.1 percent)

despite a median family income of $71,000. Melrose reported a district rate of

14 percent despite a median income of $78,000.

The state median income used in the analysis was $78,000.

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On the Net:

Massachusetts Department of Public Health: http://www.mass.gov/dph/dphhome.htm

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