Asthma and African Americans

From 2001-2003, about 3,121,000 African Americans reported that they currently have asthma.
African American women are 30% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic White women.
In 2004, African Americans were almost 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

**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

**Percentage of asthma among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
12.0	11.5	1.0

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

**Percent of current asthma prevalence, 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.4	7.6	1.2

Source: CDC 2006. Health E-Stats. Asthma Prevalence, Health Care Use and Mortality: United States, 2003-05. Figure 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ashtma03-05/asthma03-05.htm

**Percent of lifetime asthma diagnosis, 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
13.0	11.3	1.2

Source: CDC 2006. Health E-Stats. Asthma Prevalence, Health Care Use and Mortality: United States, 2003-05. Figure 3.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ashtma03-05/asthma03-05.htm

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Average annual number of deaths, with asthma as the underlying cause per 10,000 persons with current asthma, National Vital Statistics System, 2001–2003**
African American	White	African American/White Ratio
3.4	1.9	1.8

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 32.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf

**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

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

**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

**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

At a Glance – Children:

**Age-adjusted percentages for children under 18 years of age, ever being told they had asthma, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
16.6	12.8	1.3

Source: CDC, 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2006. Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_234.pdf

**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

**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

**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.pdff

You will need Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ to view PDF files located on this site. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, you can download here for free.

Content Last Modified: 1/28/2008 12:27:00 PM