Socioeconomic Status Ultimately Influences The Long-Term Effects of Childhood Asthma

The long-term effects of childhood asthma may ultimately be influenced by socioeconomic status, according to recent findings published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

"As with all chronic illnesses, there is a biological mechanism behind asthma, but asthmatic children's prognoses depend heavily on parental management, and successful management often relies on social circumstances," said Jen-Hao Chen, an assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions, in a news release. "My research indicated that there is a profound socioeconomic difference in these outcomes, with the poor consequences of asthma concentrated among children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds."

Statistics show that about 6 percent of children under the age of five have been diagnosed with asthma--the fastest-growing and most common chronic illness that affects children in the United States.

Previous studies have even shown that asthma has been associated with attention and behavioral issues--much of which can be exacerbated by certain socioeconomic circumstances. However, few studies have investigated the issue.

Researchers examined data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, which includes 5,750 children in the United States and documents changes in their behavioral skills during important developmental periods in early childhood. They looked at behavioral measures affected by asthma, including attention levels, social skills and aggressiveness. Findings revealed that asthmatic children were at greater risk in all of these areas, while negative consequences disappeared for children who had never experienced poverty and had highly educated parents.

"Family environment, which is affected by factors including parental stress and positive parenting behaviors, plays a huge role in the effective management of asthma," Chen concluded. "Poverty results in great additional strain for parents who are trying to manage an already stressful illness, often with inadequate access to resources. No matter what indicators were used to define poverty, children of lower socioeconomic status consistently performed worse than other children on behavioral development measures, and these differences already were apparent by very critical stages of early development."

To provide the best care for asthmatic children, programs should offer information on positive parental techniques on better managing parental stress and depression, as well as managing poverty.