Children with asthma often miss school

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children with asthma,
especially young children, miss more days of school than those
without asthma, according to a new report.

Dr. Kenny Y. C. Kwong and colleagues from the University of
Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles examined the
pattern of school absenteeism in 528 mostly Hispanic children
attending a Los Angeles inner city school. They divided the
students into three groups: known asthma, high probability of
asthma, and low probability of asthma.

Children with known asthma missed an average of 2 more
total days of school per year than those with a high
probability or low probability of asthma. Respiratory-related
absences accounted for 2.7 missed days per year for known
asthmatics and 1.3 to 1.4 missed days per year compared with
the other two groups.

Younger children with known asthma also missed more school
than older children.

“Increased school absenteeism likely represents greater
asthma severity and/or lack of adequate asthma control, thus
causing more symptoms and requiring more visits to the
emergence department or hospital,” Kwong’s team offers.

SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics December 2005.