Asthma and African Americans

In 2010, almost 4,500,000 non-Hispanic Blacks reported that they currently have asthma.
African Americans were 30% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic Whites, in 2010.
In 2009, African Americans were 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 are 3.6 times more likely to visit the emergency department for asthma, as compared to non-Hispanic 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:

**Current asthma prevalence percentage, adults ages 18 and over, 2010**
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	7.6	5.7	1.3
Women	13.2	10.3	1.3
Both Sexes	10.7	8.1	1.3

Source: CDC 2012. National Health Interview Survey Data 2010. Table 4-1.
http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nhis/2010/table4-1.htm

**Percentage of asthma among persons 18 years of age and over, ever being told they had asthma, 2010**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
15.3	12.9	1.2

Source: CDC 2012. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 3MB]

**Percent of current asthma prevalence, 2010**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
10.6	8.0	1.3

Source: CDC 2012. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 3MB]

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Deaths per 100,000, with asthma as the underlying cause, National Vital Statistics System, 2009**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
2.5	0.8	3.1

Source: CDC 2012. Deaths: Final Data for 2009. Table 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf [PDF | 3.3MB]

At a Glance – Treatment:

**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 [PDF | 474KB]

**Hospital admissions rate for asthma, adults age 18 and over, United States, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
301.3	100.1	3.0

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 8_3_2.3_2
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

**People with current asthma who are now taking preventive medicine daily or almost daily, United States, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
20.2	28.0	0.7

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 8_3_1.1_2b
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

At a Glance – Children:

**Age-adjusted percentages for children under 18 years of age, ever being told they had asthma, 2010**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
21.4	12.1	1.8

Source: CDC, 2011. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2010. Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_250.pdf [PDF |714KB]

**Age-adjusted percentages for children under 18 years of age, who currently have asthma, 2010**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
16.1	8.2	2.0

Source: CDC, 2011. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2010. Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_250.pdf [PDF |714KB]

**Current asthma prevalence percentage, children ages 18 and under, 2010**
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Boys	18.0	9.2	2.0
Girls	13.7	7.3	1.9
Both Sexes	15.9	8.2	1.9

Source: CDC 2012. National Health Interview Survey Data 2010. Table 4-1.
http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nhis/2010/table4-1.htm

**Hospital admissions rate for asthma, children ages 2-17, United States, 2008**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
311.5	84.3	3.7

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 8_3_2.1_2
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

**Rate for hospital emergency department visits for asthma, children ages 2-19, United States, 2007**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
199.2	54.8	3.6

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 6_4_14.1_1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

**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 [PDF | 365KB]

**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.pdf [PDF | 365KB]

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: 8/24/2012 9:35:00 AM

We're in!

We support health equity for all Americans.