Asthma-related Missed School Days among Children aged 5–17 Years

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The percent of children with asthma who reported one or more missed school days in 2013 was significantly lower than in 2003.

Poorly controlled asthma may impair a child’s ability to attend school, affect his or her academic performance, and cause parents to miss work to care for an ill child.*

The number of reported missed school days among children with asthma† was 12.4 million in 2003, 10.4 million in 2008, and 13.8 million in 2013.

chart showing Number and Percent of Asthma-related Missed School Days among Children aged 5-17 Years: United States, 2003, 2008, 2013

The percent of children with asthma† who reported one or more asthma-related missed school days in 2013 (49.0%) was significantly lower than the percent in 2003 ( 61.4% ). However, this percentage was similar to the percentage for 2008 (59.6%). The reported missed school days in each year did not differ by age, sex, race or ethnicity, and poverty level.

CDC’s National Asthma Control Program was created in 1999 to help the millions of people with asthma in the United States control their disease. The Program conducts national asthma surveillance and provides funds to states to help improve asthma surveillance and focus efforts and resources where they are needed.

Download this AsthmaStats Factsheet [PDF – 186 KB] containing additional information.

Percent of Asthma-related Missed School Days
Percent of Asthma-related Missed School Days among Children aged 5 –17 years: United States, NHIS 2003, 2008, 2013
2003
%		 2008
%		 2013
%
U.S. Total 61.4 59.6 49.0
Male 64.2 59.4 51.3
Female 57.2 59.8 46.0
Age (years)
5-11 61.9 65.9 52.0
12-17 60.8 51.1 45.5
Race/Ethnicity§
NH White 57.1 54.3 43.8
NH Black 66.8 70.0 52.7
Hispanic 71.2 77.8 56.5
NH Other 61.3 40.9 50.3
Poverty Level‡
0.0-0.99 61.6 57.6 54.8
1.00-2.49 64.2 58.0 47.7
2.50-4.49 64.7 65.7 45.1
4.50 and above 52.2 58.3 46.4

Abbreviations: NHIS, National Health Interview Survey; NH, non- Hispanic.
*National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma, 2007. Available at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/asthma/asthgdln.pdf.
†Includes children (aged 5 through 17 years) who answered “yes” to the questions: “Have you ever been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional that you had asthma?” and “Do you still have asthma?”
U.S. Total includes 50 states plus District of Columbia.

§Race categories “white, non-Hispanic”, “black, non-Hispanic”, include persons who indicated only a single race group. “Other races, non-Hispanic” includes Asian, American Indian Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, persons reporting more than one race, and persons reporting their race as something other than those listed here.
‡Poverty level is defined as ratio of family income to poverty threshold using income data with imputed missing responses.

Source: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2003, 2008, 2013: question, “During the past 12 months, how many days of [daycare or preschool, school, school or work] did child miss because of his/her asthma?