title: A comparison of absentee rates of elementary schoolchildren with asthma and nonasthmatic schoolmates.
abstract: Daily school attendance has been suggested as a health status measure for children. The present study compares school absence in children known to have asthma (N = 95) with a random sample of nonasthmatic elementary schoolchildren (N = 711). The differences in average percentage of days absent over one year were analyzed by comparing both groups' conditioning on ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and grade. Children with asthma have a significantly higher absentee rate (absent 8.4% of days) than do nonasthmatic children (absent 5.9% of days) (P less than 9001). This significant difference holds true regardless of ethnicity of sex and for most socioeconomic groups. A comparison by grade level shows a similar trend for children with asthma and nonasthmatic children: absentee rates decrease as children get older; however, except for one grade level, children with asthma have a greater percentage of school days absent. Mean absentee rates for children with asthma were different when compared according to their mother's perception of severity of asthma--mild (6.9%), moderate (7.9%), and severe (13.9%).
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors