Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Personal Author:
Meng, Ying-Ying ; Babey, Susan H. ; Wolstein, Joelle
Meng, Ying-Ying ; Babey, Susan H. ; Wolstein, Joelle Less -
Description:
Introduction

Asthma is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Previous studies have shown that school absenteeism is related to family income of individual students. However, there is little research examining whether school absenteeism is related to school-level concentration of low-income students, independent of family income. The objective of this study was to examine whether the proportion of low-income students at a school was related to school absenteeism due to asthma.

Methods

Using data from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey, a population-based survey of California households, we examined the association between attending schools with high concentrations of low-income students and missing school because of asthma, adjusting for demographic characteristics, asthma severity, and health insurance status. Schools with high concentrations of low-income students were identified on the basis of the percentage of students participating in the free and reduced-price meal program, data publicly available from the California Department of Education.

Results

Students attending schools with the highest concentrations of low-income students were more likely to miss school because of asthma. Students from low-income families, younger students, those with more frequent asthma symptoms, or those taking prescription asthma medications also were more likely to miss school because of asthma.

Conclusion

The use of school-level interventions to decrease school absenteeism due to asthma should be explored, especially in schools with high concentrations of low-income students. Potential interventions could include school-based asthma education and disease management or indoor and outdoor air pollution control.


Subjects:
[+]
Absenteeism Adolescent Asthma Child Child, Preschool Data Collection Humans Odds Ratio Original Research Poverty Risk Factors Schools
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 9.
Document Type:
Journal Article
Place as Subject:
California
Location:
North America
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:a8268c80c3eb238ff4eb38aa31ace4547ad6f7593614ba66acccc3add1086a79
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/19832/cdc_19832_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	license.txt	txt
  	PCD-9-E98.nxml	txt

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