An NHLBI-funded study found that asthma outcomes among urban minority children can be worsened by a chaotic, noisy household where it is hard to relax. The research, published in the journal Pediatrics, also singles out depression of both, children and parents as a risk factor for poor child asthma control.
Minority urban youth have higher rates of asthma and are more likely to have poor outcomes or even die of asthma compared to the general population. While much research exists on medications and prevention, researchers are just starting to understand how psychosocial factors affect asthma and how they might contribute to disparities.
"Higher levels of chaos - lack of organization or set routines, among other things - seems to be a pathway linking parental depression and worse child asthma control," said Sally Weinstein, associate professor of clinical psychiatry in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and first author on the paper.