Dickinson College Researcher Emphasizes Need to Improve Asthma Diagnosis
Study underscores need for more asthma public health outreach
by Craig Layne
Newly published findings by a team including a Dickinson College researcher emphasize the need to improve the diagnosis of asthma in children and adolescents in vulnerable communities. Sharon Kingston, associate professor of psychology and coordinator of Dickinson’s Health Studies Certificate Program, and researchers from the Columbia University School of Nursing and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health looked at more than 33,000 New York City public high school students in communities with high risk factors for asthma. Twenty percent of students surveyed reported symptoms of likely asthma but were undiagnosed. The research also revealed adolescent girls and Asian-Americans are more likely to have undiagnosed asthma.
“Potentially, there are a lot of these kids are out there who are undiagnosed,” said Kingston. “There is a need for more public health education and outreach not only for adolescents and their families, but also for health care providers who could screen adolescents for asthma,” she added.
Asthma causes a person's airways to become inflamed, narrow and swell, and produce extra mucus, making it difficult to breathe. It is the most common chronic illness among children, and it can lead to more frequent school absences, reduced physical activity, reduced quality of life and greater use of urgent health care services.
The study, “Individual and Neighborhood Factors Associated with Undiagnosed Asthma in a Large Cohort of Urban Adolescents,” was published in the Journal of Urban Health. Researchers collected screening data over four school years, beginning in 2008-2009.
Previous limited, but important, studies have revealed between 8 and 49 percent of 7- to 18-year-olds with asthma symptoms are not diagnosed. Undiagnosed asthma is a particular problem for adolescents, Kingston said, because they are less likely than young children to visit a health care provider for routine care, which could limit their chances of being diagnosed.
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Published January 16, 2019