 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mary E. Riner, DNS, School of Nursing, Indiana Unversity, Department of Envioornments for Health, 1111 Middle Drive, NU 482, Indianapolis, IN 46202, Chandan Saha, PhD, School of Medicine, Indian University, Department of Medicine, RG 4th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46202, 317-278-4283, cksaha@iupui.edu, and Gilbert Liu, MD, MS, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University, 702 Barnhill Dr, Riley Research Wing, Rm 344, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
The purpose of the study was to analyze and map childhood asthma hospitalizations with community social factors to explore geographic relationships of distribution in an urban community. An aim was to develop a social ecology model of community factors that may predict childhood asthma hospitalization. The study utilized geographic information system (GIS), spatial analysis software, for population-level analysis. Age, gender, race, income and obesity had a significant effect on the risk of having asthma. Gender effect was different for obese and non-obese patients. The odds of developing asthma for an obese male patient were the highest. Blacks had 2.7 times and white had 2.1 times higher odds of developing asthma with compared to other groups. The odds of having asthma relative to patients living in area with high income are 3 times higher for patients living in area with low income and 2.7 times higher for patients living in area with medium income. Statistical analysis explored the relationships between cohorts of children with asthma who have been discharged from the hospital and residential census tract factors of respectively, age of homes, median household income of families, and race of the majority of people living in the census tract. We explored the predictive power of each model component individually using graphs and appropriate statistical tests. The knowledge gained from this study can be used to further our understanding of the vulnerable populations who bear a disproportionate burden of childhood asthma based on place of residence.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Geographic Information Systems,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.