Asthma in California: A Surveillance Report

This report presents a comprehensive picture of the burden of asthma in the state, compiling all available asthma surveillance data (including data from the Center's California Health Interview Survey) into a single source. The report provides asthma rates over time and by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and other characteristics; comparisons of California's rates to national goals; and data on asthma prevalence, morbidity, health care utilization and quality, as well as special sections on environmental risk factors and work-related asthma.

Among the findings, the report details that approximately five million Californians – or one in eight people – have been diagnosed with asthma and that in 2010 there were almost 35,000 asthma hospitalizations in California, which resulted in over $1 billion in annual charges. The report also finds dramatic differences in asthma by race/ethnicity. This is most striking for African Americans, who have 40 percent higher asthma prevalence, four times higher asthma ED visit and hospitalization rates, and two times higher asthma death rates than Whites. Areas with lower median incomes have higher rates of asthma hospitalizations and ED visits, and adults with lower incomes are less likely to have well-controlled asthma. On average, people with asthma are exposed to two to three asthma triggers in the home. About 10 percent of adults and 5 percent of children with current asthma are exposed to secondhand smoke in the home.
 

Publication Authors:

• Meredith Milet
• Liza Lutzker, MPH
• Jennifer Flattery