title: Considerations and challenges for eliminating asthma disparities in children.
abstract: Evaluation of: Woods ER, Bhaumik U, Sommer SJ et al. Community asthma initiative: evaluation of a quality improvement program for comprehensive asthma care. Pediatrics 129(3), 465-472 (2012).   The Community Asthma Initiative is an evidence-based asthma intervention that is effective in improving quality of life for inner-city African-American and Latino children, while showing a return on investment of US$1.46, due to lower asthma-related hospital costs. The program provides an example of a comprehensive asthma management model that could be disseminated nationally with the goal of reducing asthma disparities. The health of children disproportionately affected by asthma could also be improved by integrating a broad range of housing policies into evidence-based asthma interventions in communities with high-pediatric asthma morbidity. Such interventions will be costly, but are likely to achieve long-term sustainable health benefits for children with asthma.
authors.affiliation: Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Program in Public Health and Department of Epidemiology, 121 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA. deborah_pearlman@brown.edu
authors.forename: Deborah N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Pearlman