Living in a High-Crime Neighborhood May Worsen Children's Asthma

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100501013415.htm

ScienceDaily (May 2, 2010) — Exposure to violent crime may exacerbate asthma in children, according to a study presented May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Emerging research suggests that violence and stress may influence the severity of a child's asthma. To explore this association further, researchers conducted a study of 561 children ages 8-14 years in Chicago who had been diagnosed with asthma by a physician.

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Results showed that 41 percent of the children had moderate or severe asthma, and 59 percent had intermittent or mild asthma. After adjusting for the child's age, gender, family history of asthma and socioeconomic status, children were nearly twice as likely to have moderate/severe asthma if their caregivers reported high levels of stress or if the incidence of violent crime was high in their neighborhood. After adjusting for caregiver stress, a high incidence of violent crime still was associated with more severe asthma in children.

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