Disparities by Race/Ethnicity and Sex: Asthma Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visit Rates In Rhode Island and Healthy People 2010 Goals

In this issue Health by Numbers explores asthma hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visit rates in relation to Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) goals. Two HP2010 objectives for asthma are specific to hospitalizations and ED visits. Objective 24-2 sets the following targets for asthma hospitalizations by age group: (1) an age-specific rate of 25 per 10,000 children under age 5 years, (2) an age-standardized rate of 7.7 per 10,000 children and adults aged 5-64 years, and (3) an age-standardized rate of 11 per 10,000 adults ages 65 years and older. Objective 24-3 seeks to lower asthma-related ED visits from an age-specific rate of 150.0 per 10,000 in 1998 to 80 per 10,000 among children under the age of 5 in 2010; from an age-standardized rate of 71.1 per 10,000 in 1998 to 50 per 10,000 for children and adults aged 5-64 years in 2010; and from an age-standardized rate of 29.5 per 10,000 in 1998 to 15 per 10,000 among adults aged 65 and older in 2010. National hospitalization and ED visit rates for asthma vary by population subgroups. Asthma-related hospitalizations are 2 times greater in the 65+ age group compared to the those aged 18 to 44. Hispanic adults have asthma hospitalization rates twice that of non-Hispanic white adults and African Americans are three times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than their non-Hispanic white peers. There are also sex disparities in asthma prevalence by age, as reflected in national hospitalization and ED visit rates. This article examines whether progress toward RI’s HP2010 targets for asthma-related hospitalizations and ED visit varied by patients’ age, sex, race/ ethnicity, and neighborhood-level poverty.