Asthma: Public Health Issue for Hispanics

Several links below exit EPA

By Fedora Cagnoli Braverman

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May is not only the month when April flowers bloom, it’s also Asthma Awareness Month.

According to MedlinePlus en español, asthma is a disease that affects your airways. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. It is a condition that could go from being a nuisance to extremely serious. If you don’t suffer from it, you probably know somebody who does.

But, why is asthma a public health concern? There are several reasons. Among them, it’s a chronic disease that can worsen the quality of life for the sufferer. Unfortunately, more and more people are being diagnosed with this condition.

For Latinos, though, asthma is a problem that requires attention because statistics show Hispanics are more vulnerable to it. According to the Office of Minority Health, HHS, we are more likely to visit a hospital because of asthma than non-Hispanics. Asthma is also a big problem for our children. Hispanic children are nearly twice as likely to die from asthma than non-Hispanic children. Asthma is such an important public health issue that the National Library of Medicine published several pages on its bilingual magazine (where you can see the statistics stated before) about this condition.

As a mom of two, these numbers really caught my attention. Is it possible that genetics makes us such a high risk group? There could be other problems besides genes including access (or often, lack thereof) to health information.

But thanks to years of research, there is a growing awareness about detection and management of asthma. According to EPA, it’s important to know what could trigger asthma (allergies, tobacco smoke, pollution, chemicals, upper respiratory infections, etc.) and to avoid these triggers to prevent symptoms from flaring or worsening.

If you have a small child with asthma, it’s important that you learn how to recognize the symptoms and talk to your health care provider. Otherwise, you could experience what happened to me when my son came running to me saying that his chest hurt and he couldn’t breathe. We rushed to the emergency room only to discover that he gulped too many cheese crackers at once.

Be smart: Know the symptoms, know when to get medical attention in case of an attack and, above all, leave cheese crackers out of children’s reach.

About the author: Fedora Cagnoli Braverman is responsible for developing and maintaining MedlinePlus and  MedlinePlus en español, the government web site for consumer health information in Spanish from the National Library of Medicine – NIH.