Does low birth weight help to explain the increased prevalence of asthma among African-Americans?

Background: Racial disparities in asthma prevalence are not fully explained. Previous studies have reported an association between low birth weight (LBW) and asthma. African-Americans are at a heightened risk for both conditions. Objective: The objective of this analysis was to study a sample of suburban schoolchildren to determine if increased asthma prevalence in African-Americans could be explained by report of LBW. Methods: Logistic regression was used to analyze telephone survey and clinical data for a sample of 126 children, aged 6 to 8 years. Results: African-Americans reported asthma (12.5% vs 5.3%) and LBW (16.6% vs 3.9%) more frequently than non-African-Americans. After adjusting for LBW, the odds ratio for the association of African-American race to asthma was reduced from 2.6 to 1.8, whereas LBW remained independently associated with asthma, adjusted odds ratio = 5.1(95% CI:1.4 to 18.9). The adjusted population risk for asthma due to LBW was 0.31. Conclusions: High rates of LBW for African-Americans may contribute to racial disparities in asthma prevalence.