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Resources for state health and environment agencies working together to reduce asthma in children. Sponsored by ECOS.

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State Analyses of Data about Asthma

California

California Asthma Mortality County Chart Book. Data for 1990 to 1997. 2000. California Department of Health Services. Analyzes asthma deaths by county, race, income and other variables. In PDF format at http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/deodc/ehib/EHIB2/PDF/Mortality%20Chart%20Book.pdf

California County Asthma Hospitalization Chart Book. August 2000. California Department of Health Services. Analyzes hospitalizations for asthma by county. In PDF format at http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/deodc/ehib/ehib2/PDF/Hosp%20Chart%20Book%202000.pdf

Asthma in San Francisco. San Francisco Department of Public Health. Jennifer Mann. 2000. September 2000. In PDF format at http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/Reports/asthma00.pdf

Connecticut

Epidemiology of Asthma in Connecticut. 4 p.
In PDF at http://www.state.ct.us/dph/BCH/EEOH/asthma/Asthmaepi_in_ct.pdf [cached copy]
Asthma in Connecticut, May 2001. 34 p. -- Example of a model state report that represents best practice. In PDF at http://www.state.ct.us/dph/Publications/BCH/EEOH/AsthmaRpt.pdf [cached copy]

Maine

Lung health indicators from American Lung Association for Maine. Presents a variety of kinds of data about asthma in Maine, along with environmental information. http://www.mainelung.org/learn_with_us/lhi/Lhi_intro.htm

Washington

Self-reported asthma in adults and proxy-reported asthma in children in Washington, 1997 - 1998. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, October 15, 1999. Volume 48(40): 918-920.
In html format at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4840a3.htm
In PDF format at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm4840.pdf [cached copy]

Short summary of key statistics for asthma in the US

Asthma and allergy statistics from the National Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. One page of key facts. http://www.aaaai.org/public/fastfacts/statistics.stm#Asthma Statistics

Disparities in hospital discharge rates for asthma for whites and blacks. . From slides prepared by the National Institutes of Health. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/director/slide24.htm

Disparities in asthma mortality. From the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/asthmaps/_astintr.html

CDC analyses of national data about asthma

Surveillance for Asthma in the United States, 1960-1995. David M. Mannino, David M. Homa, and others. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, April 24,1998. Vol. 47. (SS-1).
Summarizes the data collected nationally about asthma, from surveys that interview a sample of the national population.
In HTML format at http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00052262.htm
In PDF format at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS4701.pdf [cached copy]

Forecasted State-Specific Asthma Prevalence Rates for 1998. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report. December 4, 1998. Volume 47(47);1022-1025.
Provides estimates of asthma prevalence in states.
In HTML format at http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00055803.htm
In PDF format at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm4747.pdf Article starts at page 6. [cached copy]

Measuring Childhood Asthma Prevalence Before and After the 1997 Redesign to the National Health Interview Survey. Provides summary of current prevalence numbers and explains new trend that starts after the way that asthma was defined was changed in 1997. From the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, October 20, 2000. Volume 40, number 49. Article starts at page 4.
In PDF format at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm4940.pdf [cached copy]

Key data sources

Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System - telephone survey conducted by states using questions developed nationally by the Centers for Disease Control; questions about asthma prevalence in adults were added in 2000 and questions about asthma prevalence in children were added as part of a 2001 module. Information about the survey is available at CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/brfss/index.htm

National Health Interview Survey - national survey conducted by National Center for Health Statistics. This is the principal source for estimates of the national prevalence of asthma. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm

National Vital Statistics Data System -- National Mortality Data. From the National Center for Health Statistics. Complete data are available for 1998 and earlier; preliminary data are available for 1999.. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/dvs/mortdata.htm

National Hospital Discharge Data System - National data from a survey conducted at 500 hospitals by the National Center for Health Statistics. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/hdasd/nhdsdes.htm

Recommendations for Expanded Tracking of Asthma

NEW! Trust for America's Health. Short of Breath: Our Lack of Response to the Growing Asthma Epidemic and the Need for Nationwide Tracking. July 2001. Funded by the Pew Trusts.
In PDF format at: http://health-track.org/reports/asthma/shortofbreath.pdf

The Pew Environmental Health Commission -- Issued a report in 2000 recommending expanded data collection for asthma and certain other diseases, as well as an expanded national capacity for tracking chronic disease and environmental conditions.

Their report on asthma, Blinding Public Health in the Fight Against Asthma, issued May 2000, is available at the Health Track web site. Overview: http://health-track.org/reports/blindfolding/
Report text in PDF format at http://health-track.org/reports/blindfolding/blindfolding.pdf

A second report, Attack Asthma, is also available in PDF format at http://pewenvirohealth.jhsph.edu/html/reports/PEHCAsthmaReport.pdf

Data Collection Technical Issues: How to Define "Asthma"

Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Environmental Health
Case definition for surveillance system - CDC suggestions for how to define asthma in collecting data from surveillance systems

State and Territorial Epidemiologists -- Position on case definition for asthma. Recommendations from the epidemiologists who work for states about how asthma should be defined for purposes of surveillance and tracking. http://www.cste.org/ps/1998/1998-eh-cd-01.htm [Cached copy in HTML]

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