School and Work Absences Due to Asthma

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Topics:
Asthma

Asthma is the leading cause of school and work absences. Using an adapted International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, researchers identified 250 children with diagnosed asthma and 450 children with undiagnosed wheezing in six public middle schools in North Carolina. ISAAC is a worldwide project that studies the prevalence of and risk factors associated with asthma and allergic diseases. Researchers also modified a student information management system to collect information on students’ absences due to asthma during the school year. Interviews with parents measured how often they missed work due to their child’s asthmatic illness. The North Carolina School Asthma Survey (which gathered data for 12,000 children with diagnosed asthma and 21,000 children with wheezing and no diagnosis) was analyzed to evaluate characteristics associated with school absences due to asthma. A higher percentage of children with diagnosed asthma missed school compared to children with undiagnosed wheezing. For both conditions, children were more likely to be absent from school if they were from a low socioeconomic background and if they were girls.

 

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