asthma

Posted: August 27th, 2021

Homework 4

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Homework 4

Chart 1 below shows asthma prevalence and its correlation on sex, race, age, and region according to the asthma surveillance for the year between 2008 and 2010. Sex is denoted by male and female, race characterized by white, black, and other races. The data has children between zero and seventeen years in the age category, and the region is represented by Northwest, Midwest, South, and West. Hence, this paper will analyze and interpret the asthma prevalence base on sex, race, age, and region for the periods 2008-2010.

            The chart shows that the females under the sex category have a higher prevalence rate than their male counterparts in the three years. The percentage of the male is lower than that of the females in the three consecutive years. More so, according to Laffont et al. (2017), severity and prevalence in asthma have been attributed to sex differences. Hence, females have a higher prevalence rate to acquire asthma. This is due to gender differences affecting the sex hormones in the lung cells. Equally, the male testosterone levels hinder immune cells in mucus and inflammation production linked to asthma. Therefore, a person’s gender has a direct correlation with the asthma prevalence levels.

Further, it can be noted that blacks have the highest prevalence rates under the race category, followed by other races, and the least is the whites. At the same time, in the year 2010, the blacks had the highest percentage rate compared to 2008 and 2009, while the whites and the other races were lagging behind. A research conducted by Oland et al. (2017) noted that blacks have high asthma rates. Notably, this results from asthma morbidity, which can be mediated through pathways such as environmental exposures, stress, psychological factors, and limited access to health care. The study also concluded that blacks had higher emergency visits to health care, mortality rates, and hospitalization asthma than whites. Thus, the whites have lower prevalence rates in asthma than the blacks and other races, as observed in the graphical representation in chart 1.

In addition, children between 0 and seventeen have higher asthma rates than adults over eighteen years and above, as presented in chart 1. In all three years, the children’s preference rates are higher than their adult counterparts, with the highest rate in the year 2019. Oland et al. (2017) noted that children have high asthma rates due to weak immune systems that are easily affected by climate changes, airborne pollens, overuse of antibiotics, and air pollution. Finally, under the region segment, it can be noted that the Northeast region of the U.S has the highest asthma percentage. Similarly, the Midwest region, south, and the west area follows with the lowest rates. A study by Moorman et al. (2012) on National asthma surveillance in the United States in 2001-2010 observed that the highest rates are among children due to cold season from high altitude. Hence, factors such as sex, race, age, and region affect the asthma prevalence rates, as indicated in the below chart.

Chart 1- Bar chart on Sex, Race, Age, and Region on Asthma Surveillance for 2008-2010

References

Laffont, S., Blanquart, E., & Guéry, J. C. (2017). Sex differences in asthma: a key role of androgen-signaling in group 2 innate lymphoid cells. Frontiers in immunology, 8, 1069.

Moorman, J. E., Akinbami, L. J., Bailey, C. M., Zahran, H. S., King, M. E., Johnson, C. A., & Liu, X. (2012). National surveillance of asthma: the United States, 2001-2010. Vital & health        statistics. Series 3, Analytical and epidemiological studies, (35), 1.

Oland, A. A., Booster, G. D., & Bender, B. G. (2017). Psychological and lifestyle risk factors forasthma exacerbations and morbidity in children. World Allergy Organization Journal, 10(1), 35.