What is pediatric asthma?
Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children. It is an illness that affects the respiratory tract and airways that carry oxygen into and out of the lungs. During an asthma attack, these airways constrict, resulting in wheezing and difficulty breathing.
Asthma can affect people of all ages. However, it often starts in childhood and is more common in children than adults. It isn’t clear why some people get asthma, while others do not. However, new evidence is emerging on what causes the disease and how it can be prevented. Researchers have learned that many factors in a person’s environment, in combination with their genes (hereditary conditions) can cause asthma.
Episodes of asthma (often called asthma attacks) can be triggered by certain environmental pollutants such as:
- Mold
- Pollen
- Dust mites
- Air pollution
- Tobacco smoke
- Fragrances and strong smells from chemicals (such as cleaning products)
- Changes in climate, especially cold, dry air
- Pets, including cats and dogs
- Pests, including rodents and cockroaches
- Respiratory illness (COVID-19, influenza, and RSV)
- Workplace exposures (cleaning chemicals)
For more information on asthma risk factors, triggers, and ways to control your asthma and reduce your risk for asthma attacks, visit the DPH Asthma Prevention and Control Program’s (APCP) Risk Factors for Asthma webpage.
How does MA EPHT track pediatric asthma?
In 2002, the DPH Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health (BCEH) was awarded a grant from the CDC. This grant funds tracking, or surveillance, activities for diseases related to the environment. Since then, BCEH has tracked pediatric asthma.
Pediatric asthma tracking is the ongoing collection of asthma data of Massachusetts' students each school year. Once collected, this data is also analyzed and interpreted. Data is collected using school health records. An annual survey is used to collect the records from approximately 1,800 schools serving students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.
Why does MA EPHT track pediatric asthma?
In Massachusetts, the rate of pediatric asthma is consistently higher than the national average. We track pediatric asthma to learn how many cases there are in the state. We can also identify communities that may have more asthma cases than others. This enables us to plan tailored public health interventions.
In addition, there are large racial, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in asthma. Structural racism, and other systems of oppression, have created barriers to accessing culturally and linguistically appropriate, quality health care, particularly for people of color, low-income people, and people who speak little to no English. Tracking pediatric asthma can help identify populations or areas most impacted by such barriers. We can also monitor the burden of asthma and the effects of asthma on health-related quality of life.
What is the relationship between asthma and air quality?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), twenty percent of the U.S. population, or nearly 56 million people, spend their days in elementary and secondary schools. In the mid-1990s, studies showed that 1 in 5 of the nation's 110,000 schools reported unsatisfactory indoor air quality with 1 in 4 schools reporting unsatisfactory ventilation. Indoor air allergens include things like mold and dust mites.
The outdoor air pollutants most linked to asthma attacks are particulate matter and ozone. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) provides a map of the Air Quality Index (AQI) which tells how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you. At the MassDEP MassAir Online website, you can browse air quality data that is monitored at various AQI sites throughout Massachusetts and learn about associated health implications. Historic particulate matter and ozone data are also available on the MA EPHT – Outdoor Air Quality webpage.
Available data
Use the Explore pediatric asthma data link on this page to access the following measures:
- Pediatric asthma counts and prevalence in public, charter, and private schools
- Pediatric asthma counts and prevalence by geography. These measures are offered by community, county, EP Region, EOHHS Region, and statewide.
Prevalence is used to measure the percentage of students with pediatric asthma in each school or community. The number of students with asthma is reported by school nurses each school year. School nurses gather this information from the student’s school health records. They also use physician reports and parent information forms.
Prevalence in schools is the percentage of students in that school reported by school nurses to have asthma during a school year. Prevalence in communities is the percentage of students enrolled in schools in that community that have asthma.
Pediatric asthma prevalence estimates are compared to statewide prevalence. Doing so shows if the prevalence is statistically higher, lower, or about the same in the community as compared to the state. In some instances, schools or communities may not be available in the MA EPHT Tool when the user is selecting data. This is because DPH does not have data available for that school or community in the year selected.
The most current available data will be shown. Be sure to check the site periodically as new data are added. To protect privacy, no information is shown that could potentially identify an individual.
Related links
Additional resources
Massachusetts
- DPH Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health - Asthma and your environment: Information, data, and resources on how environmental factors can affect asthma
- DPH Bureau of Community Health and Prevention - Asthma Prevention and Control Program: Information on key activities and initiatives to reduce the burden of asthma across the Commonwealth
- DPH Bureau of Community Health and Prevention - Work-related asthma: Information from the Occupational Health Surveillance Program on work-related asthma and intervention efforts
- Massachusetts Essential School Health Services Program: Ongoing school health service systems development and technical assistance to the Commonwealth’s 351 public school districts
National
- Allergy and Asthma Network: Information about asthma, including symptoms, triggers, and using an asthma action plan
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology: Information and resources for the public and health care providers about asthma and allergies
- American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology: Information about asthma for health care providers and patients, including resources to find an allergist
- American Lung Association: Information about asthma for patients, caregivers, and health professionals
- Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, New England Chapter: Asthma services in New England
- CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) for asthma: View asthma data on the CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking website
- CDC - About asthma: Information about asthma, including resources for health care providers such as a checklist for home visitors to find common asthma triggers
- EPA - Asthma: EPA's coordinated approach on asthma promotes scientific understanding of environmental asthma triggers and ways to manage asthma in community settings through research, education, and outreach
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): HUD’s main goal is to ensure everyone in the United States can live in an affordable, safe, and healthy home