Exploration of race based disparities in access to care among children with asthma in the United States

In the U.S. it has been well documented that Black children are more likely than White children to suffer from problems with asthma, but few of these studies have explored the disparities in access to care among these racial groups. There are many children in the U.S. that are not insured, and do not have proper access to adequate health care services. To assess variation in access to care across race, income, and health insurance status among children with asthma in the U.S. we analyzed data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey. We obtained a population of 1630 children with asthma age 0-17. In the bivariate analysis statistical significance was found among Black children being less likely to have seen a general doctor in the past twelve months (p<.0001). A higher proportion of children whose family income were less than $20,000 were more likely to have not seen a general doctor in the past twelve months (p<.0001). Uninsured children were twice as likely to have not seen a general doctor in the past twelve months (p<.0001). In the multivariate analysis race and health insurance status remained highly associated with an individuals ability to access appropriate health care services, while surprisingly there was no association among income, sex, health status, or region. Further studies will have to explore the findings in this study, to identify exactly what factors contribute to the apparent disparity children with asthma face when accessing health care services.