Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pediatric Asthma in the United States, 2011: Does Residential Inequality Matter?

Samantha Friedman, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
Emily Rosenbaum, Fordham University
Kaya Hamer-Small, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
Samuel Garrow, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)

Among children aged 1 to 9, asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization in the United States. Many studies find that asthma has a higher than average prevalence among poor, minority, and inner-city residents. However, little research has explored how racial and ethnic disparities in housing and neighborhood quality have contributed to racial and ethnic disparities in asthma. For the most part, data on health outcomes, and residential quality have been hard to obtain. This paper seeks to build upon this limited literature by using new data from the 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS). These data are the first panel of the AHS, which is a rich source of data on residential characteristics, to ask health questions of households. Our preliminary analyses of these data find that racial and ethnic disparities in the prevalence of pediatric asthma remain, even after accounting for racial and ethnic differences in residential attainment.