Socio-demographic disparities of childhood asthma

Childhood asthma is particularly prevalent among disadvantaged children and is associated with greater functional consequences. This study described factors associated with childhood asthma in a sample of Latino and non-Latino children. Data were from baseline measures of 791 parent and child dyads involved in a childhood obesity prevention study. Parents completed a self-administered survey assessing childhood factors, demographics, acculturation and child asthma diagnosis. Multivariate mixed effects logistic regression analyses tested for correlates of child asthma and ethnicity interactions. Children were 4-10 years old, half were female, 86.0 percent were US-born and 45.7 percent were overweight or obese. The prevalence of childhood asthma was 11.5 percent. In multivariate analyses, the odds of childhood asthma were greater among children of non-Latino descent (OR = 4.1, CI: 1.8, 9.2), who had health insurance (OR = 11.1, CI: 2.7, 46.4), were male (OR = 1.8; CI: 1.1, 3.1) and born pre-term (OR = 3.0, CI: 1.4, 6.3). This study supports socio-demographic disparities in childhood asthma and evidence of their independent effects.