Comment from Susan Graham: This Asthma Study was done by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and shows that multiracial people have the greatest prevalence of asthma. They don't know exactly why yet, but researchers plan to have further studies. This illustrates one of the vitally important reasons to include multiracial people in clinical studies.
Study: Asthma Rates Rise
Rochester, N.Y.—MaryBei Prince is a fun loving teenager.
“I like to play soccer and I like to hang out with my friends,” said the 13-year-old from Victor.
An asthma attack at soccer practice last year took more than fun from Prince and her family; it frightened them.
“It’s really scary because I felt like, there's a lot of pressure on my chest...maybe you're going to have a heart attack and die,” explained Prince.
A CDC study says that asthma rates have risen to their highest levels on record.
The study found 9.2 percent of females had asthma as of 2010 and 8.4 percent of the U.S. is afflicted with the chronic disease; nearly 26 million in total.
Multiracial people have the greatest prevalence at 14.1 percent while Asians have the lowest rates at 5.2 percent.
“It’s possible that the awareness of asthma has increased leading to more diagnosis,” said Steve Georas, MD an asthma specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
But Georas believes the incidents of asthma are increasing.
“The reasons for this are not clear. We wonder if there are environmental factors that could act as a trigger for asthma both its incidents and severity,” said Georas.
As for Prince, she’s been able to manage her form of asthma.
Doctors say more research is needed to better understand asthma triggers and develop more advanced forms of treatment.
“I like to play soccer and I like to hang out with my friends,” said the 13-year-old from Victor.
An asthma attack at soccer practice last year took more than fun from Prince and her family; it frightened them.
“It’s really scary because I felt like, there's a lot of pressure on my chest...maybe you're going to have a heart attack and die,” explained Prince.
A CDC study says that asthma rates have risen to their highest levels on record.
The study found 9.2 percent of females had asthma as of 2010 and 8.4 percent of the U.S. is afflicted with the chronic disease; nearly 26 million in total.
Multiracial people have the greatest prevalence at 14.1 percent while Asians have the lowest rates at 5.2 percent.
“It’s possible that the awareness of asthma has increased leading to more diagnosis,” said Steve Georas, MD an asthma specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
But Georas believes the incidents of asthma are increasing.
“The reasons for this are not clear. We wonder if there are environmental factors that could act as a trigger for asthma both its incidents and severity,” said Georas.
As for Prince, she’s been able to manage her form of asthma.
Doctors say more research is needed to better understand asthma triggers and develop more advanced forms of treatment.
Source:Study: Asthma Rates Rise by Evan White, ABC affiliate Channel 13, Rochester, N.Y.
My question is what DON'T we know? So little medical data is available on multiracial people because, so often, we are not included research. This is just one example of why it is so important.
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