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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Laurie Stillman, MM, Asthma Regional Council of New England, The Medical Foundation, 622 Washington Street, 2nd floor, Boston, MA 02124, 617-279-2266, laurie.stillman@verizon.net

The Asthma Regional Council (ARC) was created by the Region I federal administrators at the U.S. EPA, DHHS and HUD to encourage a multi-state and multi-disciplinary approach to tackling the environmental contributors to asthma in New England. Through an agreed-upon multi-year action plan, state leaders in the six states are working together to understand and tackle the asthma epidemic.

Two years ago, the New England Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Coordinators and CDC-funded Asthma Managers worked with ARC in an unprecedented manner to ask and analyze the same questions on both the adult and child 2001 BRFSS surveys. The yearlong effort allowed the region to better understand how asthma manifested itself and uncovered that our region experienced disproportionately high rates compared to the rest of the country. Two reports were generated on the results, and they received enormous policy and media attention.

ARC's Asthma Surveillance Committee decided to reengage in an updated analysis, but this time the focus would center on the burden of asthma, not just on prevalence. ARC examined the 2004 Adult BRFSS as well as the National Child Health Interview Survey (2003-2004). An in-depth report was published entitled "The Burden of Asthma in New England" which uncovered, not only that asthma rates are increasing in our region, but that the disease is being poorly controlled, and poses a heavy economic and psycho-social burden on those individuals and families affected, particularly low income populations. This session will address the surveillance process and findings.

Learning Objectives: