Asthma and Hispanic Americans

From 2001-2003, about 1,978,000 Hispanics reported that they currently have asthma.
Puerto Rican Americans have almost three times the asthma rate as compared to the overall Hispanic population.
The rate of asthma attacks for Pureto Ricans was 2.5 times that of Whites.
Hispanics are twice as likely to use outpatient clinics for asthma visits, rather than physician offices.
Hispanic children are 60% more likely to have asthma, as compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

At a glance – Diagnosed:

**Estimated average annual prevalence percents for self-reported current asthma, National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2001–2003**
	Population	White	Population / White Ratio
All Hispanic	5.4	6.9	0.8
Puerto Rican	14.5	6.9	2.1
Mexican	3.9	6.9	0.6

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**
	Population	White	Population / White Ratio
Total Hispanic	3.3	3.9	0.8
Puerto Rican	9.6	3.9	2.5
Mexican	2.1	3.9	0.5

Source: : CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 6.
hhttp://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf

**Percentage of asthma among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006**
Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.2	11.5	0.7

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**
	Population	White	Population / White Ratio
Total Hispanic	6.2	7.6	0.8
Puerto Rican	17.0	7.6	2.3
Mexican	5.0	7.6	0.7

Source: 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**
	Population	White	Population / White Ratio
Total Hispanic	8.9	11.3	0.8
Puerto Rican	22.0	11.3	1.9
Mexican	7.3	11.3	0.6

Source: 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**
Hispanic	White	Hispanic/White Ratio
1.5	1.9	0.8

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**
Hispanic	White	Hispanic/White Ratio
11.4	10.4	1.1

Source: CDC 2007. National Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1980-2004. Table 34.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5608.pdf

**Number of asthma deaths per 100,000 population, 2003**
	Population	Non-Hispanic White	Population / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Total Hispanic	1.3	1.1	1.2
Puerto Rican	4.4	1.1	4.0
Mexican	0.8	1.1	0.7

Source: CDC 2006. Health E-Stats. Asthma Prevalence, Health Care Use and Mortality: United States, 2003-05. Figure 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ashtma03-05/asthma03-05.htm

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**
Hispanic	White	Hispanic/White Ratio
93.8	70.6	1.3

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**
Hispanic	White	Hispanic/White Ratio
59.6	24.0	2.5

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**
Hispanic	White	Hispanic/White Ratio
57.5	43.6	1.3

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**
	Population	Non-Hispanic White	Population/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Hispanic	13.2	12.8	1.0
Mexican	10.8	12.8	0.8

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**
Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/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)**
Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.8	1.3	1.4

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**
	Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Current prevalence (2004-2005)	90%	92%	1.0
Emergency department visit rate	109%	66%	1.7
Death rate	69%	50%	1.4

Source: CDC 2006. The State of Childhood Asthma, United States, 1980–2005. Table VIII.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad381.pdf

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Content Last Modified: 1/9/2009 10:57:00 AM