Description
Asthma is a common health condition worldwide that leads to a significant number of deaths yearly. However, despite its prevalence, the epidemiology of the disease is not uniform. The disease disproportionally affects minorities and those living in poverty. In the United States, the prevalence of the disease is not well understood in the American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) population. Some studies have identified significant variability across regions and therefore it is necessary to characterize the disease regionally. Here data from the cross-sectional survey, the 2009 California Health Interview Survey, is used to examine if the theory of resource deprivation explains the disparity in self-reported asthma attacks in AIAN asthmatic adults. The odds of an AIAN asthmatic adult reporting an asthma attack is 1.71 times greater (95% CI 1.19, 2.44) than his White asthmatic counterpart. After controlling for 7 variables addressing resource deprivation and smoking, the odds of an AIAN asthmatic adult reporting an asthma attack is 1.57 times greater (95% CI 1.07, 2.32) than his White counterpart. Though the resource deprivation variables examined here account for some of the disparity in asthma attack, the disparity remains significant, implying that there are other factors at work that must be identified in any future effort to eliminate the disparity. Further study is needed to identify the rate and severity of asthma among AIAN populations in California, including specifically by tribal affiliation, including objective measurements of respiratory function, and sampling environmental risk factors.
