Schools
and Asthma
For
every classroom in Michigan with 30 children in it, two may
have asthma. This chronic
disease causes unnecessary restriction of childhood activities,
and is a leading cause of school absenteeism. Asthma can be
controlled, though, and with proper treatment and support, children
with asthma can lead fully active lives.
The
Facts![](images/school5_000.jpg)
Among
children 0� years old in the United States in 2002:
- 12.2% (8.9 million) had
been told by a health professional at some point in their
lives that they had asthma. 3
- 8.3% (6.1 million) were
reported to currently have asthma. 1
- 5.8% (4.2 million) had
an asthma attack in the last 12 months. 3
Among
children 0� years old in the United States in 2000:
- 4.6 million had visited
doctors' offices and hospital outpatient departments. 3
- 728,000 visited hospital
emergency departments. 3
- 214,000 were hospitalized
due to asthma. 3
Schools
can do their part to control asthma by becoming more 揳sthma-friendly,�
i.e., adopting policies and procedures, and coordinating student
services to better serve students with asthma.
Schools,
Tools, and Resources
Policies
School/Staff/Parent
Resources
Adapted
from Managing Asthma: A Guide for Schools. National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes
of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and
the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching,
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S.
Department of Education. September 1991. NIH Publication No.
91-2650. Revised 2003.
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