title: Asthma self-management is sub-optimal in urban Hispanic and African American/black early adolescents with uncontrolled persistent asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Youth as young as 11 are given responsibility to manage their asthma. Yet, little is known regarding early adolescents' asthma self-management behaviors. This study characterizes urban early adolescents' asthma self-management behaviors and perceived responsibility to manage asthma, exploring demographic differences and examining the relationship between asthma responsibility and disease management.
  
  
  METHODS
  About 317 Hispanic and African American/Black early adolescents (mean age = 12.71) with persistent, uncontrolled asthma reported prevention and symptom management steps, and responsibility for asthma care. We used Poisson, cumulative logistic, logistic, and linear mixed-effects regression models to assess the relationships among demographic predictors, prevention and management behaviors, and responsibility for asthma care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty percent took 7-9 prevention steps; few saw physicians when asymptomatic or took daily medication. When symptomatic, 92% used medication to treat symptoms and 56% sought medical attention. Controlling for asthma responsibility, fewer older youth reported observing how they feel when asthma is likely to start, observing symptom changes, or asking for help. More boys reported taking medication daily or upon trigger exposure. Controlling for age, gender, and race/ethnicity, those reporting more asthma responsibility were less likely to report taking management steps, seeking preventive care, asking for help, or going to a doctor/hospital for their asthma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early adolescents' asthma self-management is suboptimal. With increasing age, they are less observant regarding their asthma and less likely to seek help. Although they perceive themselves to have greater responsibility for managing their asthma, early adolescents do less to care for their asthma, suggesting they are being given responsibility for asthma care prematurely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Child Study Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. jean-marie.bruzzese@nyumc.org
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bruzzese
authors.forename: Cesalie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stepney
authors.forename: Elizabeth K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Fiorino
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bornstein
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petkova
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents