Racial/ethnic variations in asthma prevalence and health services in the US and among the Medicaid population: 2003 - 2005

National survey data and CMS Medicaid claims data show that the rates of asthma prevalence and health services remain markedly higher among blacks than whites. National prevalence averaged 8.5% for children; 6.7% for adults; and, in Medicaid 7% for children; 5% for adults. Findings are mixed for Non-black Hispanics. This study examined race/ethnicity variations in current asthma care using the CMS Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) database including all states and the District of Columbia and analyzed by the authors. It included fee-for-service, primary care case management, and managed care claims to the extent that they were submitted. Current asthma refers to having some service for asthma during a year. Race/ethnicity variations differ markedly for preschoolers, grade-schoolers and high-schoolers and adults. For acute care rates were highest among pre-schoolers, young boys, and blacks- with little improvement toward meeting the US Healthy People 2010 goal. Ambulatory care increased – showing improvement in addressing the NIH/NAEPP goal of controlling asthma. Using Medicaid asthma-related prescriptions, findings showed that approximately 20% of Medicaid beneficiaries with asthma had no asthma-related drug claim; blacks had fewer claims. These findings are important for national and local programs on asthma. They raise important public health concerns about a need to minimize barriers to access, and to insure that individuals with asthma in every community setting receive timely and appropriate ambulatory care and education according to the NIH/NAEPP guidelines. (Other sources: HHS Office of Minority Health website on Asthma and African American statistics; MMWR 2007; NCHS Advance Data, 12/2006).