Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #96750

Doug Brugge, PhD, MS¹, Robyn Greenfield¹, Angela Lee², and Roland Tang, MD³. (1) Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111, (617) 636-0326, dbrugge@aol.com, (2) University College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111, (3) Pediatrics, South Cove Community Health Center, 145 South Street, Boston, MA 02111

A convenience sample of 152 children ages 5-18, was recruited in the waiting room of the pediatrics department at South Cove Community Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts between June 16-July 23, 2004. Children with cough or fever, who were outside the specified age range, or who did not speak either English or Cantonese were excluded from the study. By use of five-question instrument, the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen; a video demonstration of wheezing, and spirometry the study compared the use of current methods to detect asthma in this population. Body Mass Index was generated and recorded. Based on their body mass index (BMI) and age, each child was then categorized as underweight (<5th percentile), healthy weight (5-85th percentile), at risk for overweight (85th-95th percentile) or overweight (>95th percentile) using the CDC BMI growth charts. Our strongest finding was that being born in the US was highly predictive of having diagnosed asthma. We were unable to determine whether this is a function of true asthma prevalence or differential diagnosis. Being US-born was also associated with higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. It is striking that the two outcomes, high BMI and asthma are both associated with place of birth in the same population. Very early in utero or post-birth factors should be investigated.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to describe statistical findings that showed an association between native/foriegn born and prevalence of asthma and obesity in children from Cantonese-speaking families.
• Participants will be able to discuss the strengths and limitations of the study and relate this information to the need for further research.
• Participants will be able to discuss the possible relationship of the findings to different theoretical frameworks, including the possibility that early childhood infections could be partially responsible for the findings.

Keywords: Asthma, Asian Americans

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.