title: Asthma-Related School Absenteeism, Morbidity, and Modifiable Factors.
abstract: Asthma is a leading cause of chronic disease-related school absenteeism. Few data exist on how information on absenteeism might be used to identify children for interventions to improve asthma control. This study investigated how asthma-related absenteeism was associated with asthma control, exacerbations, and associated modifiable risk factors using a sample of children from 35 states and the District of Columbia.
  
  
  
  The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Child Asthma Call-back Survey is a random-digit dial survey designed to assess the health and experiences of children aged 0-17 years with asthma. During 2014-2015, multivariate analyses were conducted using 2006-2010 data to compare children with and without asthma-related absenteeism with respect to clinical, environmental, and financial measures. These analyses controlled for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.
  
  
  
  Compared with children without asthma-related absenteeism, children who missed any school because of asthma were more likely to have not well controlled or very poorly controlled asthma (prevalence ratio=1.50; 95% CI=1.34, 1.69) and visit an emergency department or urgent care center for asthma (prevalence ratio=3.27; 95% CI=2.44, 4.38). Mold in the home and cost as a barrier to asthma-related health care were also significantly associated with asthma-related absenteeism.
  
  
  
  Missing any school because of asthma is associated with suboptimal asthma control, urgent or emergent asthma-related healthcare utilization, mold in the home, and financial barriers to asthma-related health care. Further understanding of asthma-related absenteeism could establish how to most effectively use absenteeism information as a health status indicator.
authors.affiliation: Epidemic Intelligence Service, Office of Public Health Scientific Services, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia;. Electronic address: xdd6@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Suzanne F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Beavers
authors.affiliation: Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Maria C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mirabelli
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004219:District of Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology