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Review
. 2021 Sep 30;94(3):497-507.
eCollection 2021 Sep.

An Overview of Health Disparities in Asthma

Mario F Perez  1 , Maria Teresa Coutinho  2
Affiliations
Review

An Overview of Health Disparities in Asthma

Mario F Perez et al. Yale J Biol Med. .

Abstract

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease characterized by inflammation in the respiratory airways which manifests clinically with wheezing, cough, and episodic periods of chest tightness; if left untreated it can lead to permanent obstruction or death. In the US, asthma affects all ages and genders, and individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately burdened by this disease. The financial cost of asthma exceeds $81 billion every year and despite all the resources invested, asthma is responsible for over 3,500 deaths annually in the nation. In this overview, we highlight important factors associated with health disparities in asthma. While they are complex and overlap, we group these factors in five domains: biological, behavioral, socio-cultural, built environment, and health systems. We review the biological domain in detail, which traditionally has been best studied. We also acknowledge that implicit and explicit racism is an important contributor to asthma disparities and responsible for many of the socio-environmental factors that worsen outcomes in this disease.

Keywords: Asthma; Health Disparities.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trend in asthma prevalence in the US among Whites, African Americans and Hispanics from 2007 to 2017. Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/national-surveillance-data/default.htm
Figure 2
Figure 2
Factors that contribute to persistent health disparities in asthma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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