The first few years of life are critical in your child’s development, especially of the brain and nervous system. Developmental delays that can affect your child for the rest of his or her life frequently have their start between birth to three years of age.

Providing your child with a safe environment is critical and can reduce the risk of your child developing developmental disabilities. Exposure to lead, mercury or other chemicals that are toxic to your infant & newborn must be avoided. For example, if your home was build prior to 1978, you should have it tested for lead and asbestos.

Developmental Disabilities

     Asthma is a common chronic disease among children in the United States. [1]

     In 2006, 9.9 million children under 18 years of age were reported to have ever been diagnosed with asthma; 6.8 million children had an asthmatic episode in the last 12 months.[2]

     From 2002-2004, the hospitalization rate for asthma was 27 per 10,000 children.[3]

Disparities in Developmental Disabilities

     Mental retardation is more common for children from lower income families and for certain racial and ethnic groups.[4]

Economic Impact of Developmental Disabilities

     Although asthma deaths among children are rare, 195 children under 18 years of age died from asthma in 2003.[3]

Disparities of Asthma

     Asthma disproportionately affects children from lower-income families and children from various racial and ethnic groups.[5]

     African-American children have a 500% higher mortality rate from asthma as compared with Caucasian children.[6]

     In 2005, 13% of African-American children were reported to have asthma as compared with 9% of Hispanic children and 8% of non-Hispanic white children.

     Larger disparities exist within the Hispanic population. For instance, 20% of Puerto Rican children were reported to have asthma compared to just 7% of Mexican children.[7]

     While national level surveys suggest Asian and Pacific Islander children do not have high rates of asthma, small-scale surveys how a high prevalence of asthma among subgroups of Asian and Pacific Islander children.[8]

ο         Larger disparities exist within the Hispanic population. For instance, 20% of Puerto Rican children

were reported to have asthma compared to just 7% of Mexican children.[9]

ο         Larger disparities exist within the Hispanic population. For instance, 20% of Puerto Rican children

were reported to have asthma compared to just 7% of Mexican children.[10]

Economic Impact of Asthma

     In 2002, children 5-17 years old missed 14.7 million school days due to asthma.[11]

     The direct and indirect costs of asthma to the U.S. economy were $19.7 billion in 2007.[12]

ο         Approximately $14.7 billion dollars are directly associated with the medical care costs of asthma.[13]

ο         Approximately $5 billion are associated with lost productivity.[14]

     Asthmatic patients and their families pay a higher portion of their medical care costs than patients with other diseases, due to heavy reliance on prescription medication combined with lower insurance coverage for prescription drugs.[15]

[1]    Wang LY, Zhong Y, Wheeler L. Direct and indirect costs of asthma in school-age children. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2005 Jan [date cited]. Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2005/ jan/04_0053.htm

[2]    Bloom B, Cohen RA. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2006. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10(234). 2007.

[3]    CDC Asthma Prevalence, Health Care Use and Mortality, 2005. See http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ashtma03-05/asthma03-...

[4]    Kozak LJ, DeFrances CJ, Hall MJ. National Hospital Discharge Survey: 2004 annual summary with detailed diagnosis and procedure data. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 13(162). 2006

[5]    EPA (2003). America’s Children and the Environment, Second Edition, 2003, p. 71. See http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage..htm

[6]    Akinbami, LJ.  The State of childhood asthma, United States, 1980-2005.   Advance data from vital and health statistics; No 381, Hyattsville, MD; National Center for Health Statistics. 2006.

[7]    Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.  America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007.  Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office

[8]     Davis A, Kreutzer, R et al.(2006).  “Asthma prevalence in Hispanic and Asian American ethnic subgroups: results from the California kids survey”.  Pediatrics 118 (2): e363-e370

[9]    Ibid

[10]    Ibid

[11]    CDC, Asthma Prevalence, Health Care Use and Mortality, 2002.  See ttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/asthma/asthma.htm

[12]    National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Chartbook on cardiovascular, lung and blood diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health 2007

[13]    Ibid, p.17

[14]    Ibid.

[15]    EPA, National Costs of Asthma for 1997, pp. 21-22