To examine associations between neighborhood characteristics and asthma prevalence and severity among low-income children in a large nationally representative sample.
Data source: 2018 National Survey of Children’s Health, limited to low-income children, ages 0-17 years. We grouped parent responses about neighborhood characteristics into five scores: neighborhood support, safety, resources and quality, and a total score. Logistic regression compared rates and severity of asthma by neighborhood scores, adjusting for age, sex, race, and income.
Of 8,653 low-income children, those living in neighborhoods with better total neighborhood scores were significantly less likely to have parent-reported asthma; OR=0.9, 95% CI: 0.8-1.0; p=0.02, with similar findings for children living in neighborhoods with higher support, safety, and quality scores. We found no associations between neighborhood scores and asthma severity in this population.
Favorable neighborhoods are associated with lower parent-reported asthma prevalence in low-income children but not asthma severity. These data may support providers and policy makers interested in child asthma in addressing neighborhood improvement.
Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Association of Neighborhood Characteristics with Pediatric Asthma.
