Asthma in non-inner city Head Start children.
OBJECTIVE
Asthma is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children. The objective of this study was to determine whether the federal program Head Start in Dane County, Wisconsin, could be used as a mechanism to identify preschool-aged children with asthma.


METHODS
Five-year, cross-sectional survey of parents with children enrolled in Head Start.


METHODS
Investigator-administered asthma screening questionnaire to parents of enrolling Head Start children in Dane County, Wisconsin.


METHODS
Asthma prevalence and asthma-related health care use, including emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and medication usage, were measured using an asthma screening questionnaire developed by investigators.


RESULTS
Information was gathered on 2215 children. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma in the screened children was 15.8%. Parental reports of physician-diagnosed asthma were validated in a subset of 133 children, with a 98.5% confirmation rate. Independent risk factors for asthma included male gender (relative risk, 1.4) and African-American ethnicity (relative risk, 1.4). Asthma-related morbidity was substantial with 26.7% of identified children hospitalized for asthma and 54.5% with an emergency department visit during their lifetime. The majority of children (46.4%) were treated with intermittent, quick relief medications (beta-agonists) alone, whereas only 6.1% were on daily, long-term controller medications.


CONCLUSIONS
Asthma screening through a Head Start program provides an effective means of targeting preschool-aged children from socioeconomic groups at high risk for asthma. Identification of children early in the disease course and those at high risk for asthma provides an ideal opportunity for the implementation of preventive and therapeutic interventions.
McGill
K A
KA
Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI 53792, USA.
Sorkness
C A
CA
Ferguson-Page
C
C
Gern
J E
JE
Havighurst
T C
TC
Knipfer
B
B
Lemanske
R F
RF
Busse
W W
WW
D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology