Pediatric Asthma in Massachusetts 2007 - 2008
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Pediatric Asthma in Massachusetts 2007 - 2008 Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health 250 Washington Street Boston, MA 02108 July 2010 Table of Contents I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 1 II. Methods………………………………………………………………………………. 2 A. Regulatory Authority/ Data Confidentiality………………………………… 2 B. Target Population……………………………………………………………. 2 C. Project Definition of Asthma………………………………………………… 3 D. Data Collection………………………………………………………………. 3 E. Data Management…………………………………………………………… 4 F. Data Analysis………………………………………………………………… 4 III. Results……………………………………………………………………………….. 5 A. Participation…………………………………………………………………… 5 B. Reported Asthma Prevalence………………………………………………. 5 1. School Prevalence………………………………………………………… 2. Community Prevalence…………………………………………………… 3. Other Variables……………………………………………………………. 4. Race………………………………………………………………………… IV. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………... 6 A. School Specific Prevalence…………………………………………………. 6 B. Community Level Prevalence………………………………………………. 7 C. Comparison with Previous Years of Data…………………………………. 7 D. Comparison with Other Surveillance Programs…………………………… 8 E. Value of Asthma Surveillance……………………………………………….. 9 V. Future Efforts for Pediatric Asthma Surveillance……………………………. 9 VI. References……………………………………………………………………………10 Figures……………………………………………………………………………………. 12 Tables…………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Appendix I. Advisory Committee Appendix II. MDPH Pediatric Asthma Survey, 2007-2008 Appendix III. Reported Asthma Prevalence by Individual School (XL) Appendix IV. Reported Asthma Prevalence by Community (City/Town) (XL) List of Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1. MA Pediatric Asthma Surveillance School Response Rate 2003-2008 Figure 2. Percentage of Schools by Reported Pediatric Asthma Prevalence 2007-2008 Figure 3. Percentage of Communities by Reported Pediatric Asthma Prevalence 2007-2008 Figure 4. MA Pediatric Asthma Prevalence 2003-2008 Tables Table 1. Reported Asthma Prevalence by Grade 2007-2008 Table 2. Reported Asthma Prevalence by Gender 2003-2008 Table 3. MA Pediatric Asthma Prevalence by Race/Ethnicity, 2007-2008 Acknowledgements The MDPH would like to thank school nurses and administrative staff in public, private and charter school systems who contributed to the success of the sixth year of its pediatric asthma surveillance effort by completing a pediatric asthma surveillance form. We would also like to thank the asthma surveillance advisory committee for its valuable input during both the planning and implementation phases of the project. Pediatric Asthma in Massachusetts 2007-2008 I. Introduction Asthma is a common chronic disease among children that appears to have increased in prevalence over the past decades [1]. It continues to affect more than 12% of Americans under the age of 18 [2], and is the third-ranking cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 [3]. The estimated cost of treating asthma in those under the age of 18 is $3.2 billion per year [4] and for the entire US population over $11.5 billion [5]. Due to the high prevalence, and the cost attributed to this disease, public health organizations across the country have made asthma surveillance a priority. Historically statewide asthma prevalence had been collected through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a random telephone survey implemented by state health departments in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although BRFSS data are useful for estimating asthma prevalence in the state as a whole, they do not provide information regarding asthma at the community level. Data on hospitalizations for pediatric asthma are available at the community level on MassCHIP and reported in the Department’s Burden of Asthma in Massachusetts report. However, the numbers from each of these sources likely represent an underestimate of pediatric asthma prevalence since they reflect only asthma treated in the emergency department or hospital. Because of the limitations of the above mentioned data sources, there remains a need to better quantify the scope of the problem on the local level, particularly as it relates to the pediatric population. Between 2001 and 2004, the self-reported prevalence of asthma in the US was substantially higher in the 5-14 year old age group than in any other age group [6]. Similarly, prevalence in those aged 0-17 increased from 3.6% in 1980 to 7.5% in 1995. While these rates have leveled off in recent years, they are still higher than in previous years [7]. In an effort to better understand asthma in pediatric populations, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH/BEH) implemented a surveillance system to capture asthma prevalence in the 5-14 year old age group beginning in the 2002-2003 school year. This surveillance system has helped to document the prevalence of pediatric asthma in Massachusetts. This report describes the methods used to implement pediatric asthma surveillance and summarizes the asthma prevalence data collected during the 2007-2008 school 1 year, which encompasses all public and private schools in the Commonwealth serving grades Kindergarten through 8. It also provides tables and figures with data covering the period 2003- 2008. (Reports from years one through five can be found on the MDPH website at www.mass.gov/dph/asthma). The methods followed were based upon the experience gained from the previous surveillance efforts and through discussions with the School Nurse Advisory Committee comprised of school nurse leaders from around the state, the MDPH/ Essential School Health Service (ESHS) staff, and MDPH/BEH staff. (Appendix I) In addition to the efforts of this surveillance project, MDPH/BEH has developed a number of health and environmental databases through its Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program, an ongoing data collection and analysis system, funded by the CDC. The MA EPHT system allows public health officials, the general public, and others to look at data about environmental hazards and health indicators to determine the need for public health actions that might be warranted. Data collected as part of EPHT are now available to the public on the Massachusetts EPHT portal (http://matracking.ehs.state.ma.us/). The pediatric asthma data available includes prevalence estimates by school and gender and also by city/town of residence. This data is available in tabular format as well as graphically and for some data, maps may be generated to visually examine prevalence. II. Methods A. Regulatory Authority/ Data Confidentiality Massachusetts law authorizes the MDPH/BEH to access school health records in public health investigations and requires the strict protection of the privacy of the information collected (Massachusetts Student Record Registration Section 23.7 (4) (h) and MGL c111, s 24A). The MDPH also has regulatory authority to access health records for asthma and other selected health outcomes through 105 CMR 300.192-- public health regulations for the reporting of environmentally-related diseases to the MDPH. This authority is consistent with the requirements to protect privacy as provided through the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). MDPH/BEH in collaboration with school health nurses collect data on children diagnosed with asthma within each school on an aggregate level. No information that might identify individual 2 students is currently collected. The MDPH/BEH received approval for this project as part of a larger effort aimed at tracking several health outcomes thought to be impacted by environmental exposures. B. Target Population During the 2007-2008 school year the MDPH/BEH requested all public, private, and charter schools in Massachusetts serving grades Kindergarten through 8 to report the number of students with asthma enrolled in the school. This resulted in data from 2,099 schools, excluding school closures and schools that did not serve any eligible grades, and for approximately 710,000 students. C. Project Definition of Asthma As with the five previous years of pediatric asthma surveillance, a specific clinical definition of asthma was not provided to nurses or administrative staff. Instead, schools were asked to report the number of students known to them as having a diagnosis of asthma. This broad based definition captures asthma of all types, including allergic asthma and exercise-induced asthma. Likewise, it helps to capture a range of disease severities from mild to severe. This will ensure a more sensitive prevalence estimate by making sure that all cases of asthma are reported, not simply those severe enough to warrant hospital treatment. Specific sources in the health record of a child’s asthma status included emergency cards, physical exam forms, parent resource centers, parent communications, student communications, health care provider documentation, or direct observation of an asthma attack. In 2001, MDPH/BEH conducted a verification effort during the Merrimack Valley Pediatric Asthma study which consistently supported the high quality and significant reliability of school health asthma data (MDPH, BEH, Air Pollution and Pediatric Asthma in the Merrimack Valley, 2008 (www.mass.gov/dph/asthma). D. Data Collection Beginning in January 2008, school health contacts were mailed a one-page reporting form asking for aggregate numbers of children with asthma by grade, gender, community of child’s residence, and school building. School health