Screening high-risk children for asthma through a community intervention

Objective: Many children, particularly those from inner city neighborhoods, have undiagnosed asthma. This study was done to evaluate the effectiveness of an asthma screening, referral and follow-up intervention in an inner city community setting in early identification of children at risk for undiagnosed asthma. Methods: A descriptive longitudinal cohort design was used to assess children at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up. Parents of children in a private day school and a church Sunday school (N = 103) completed a validated Asthma Screening Tool at both time periods. Children with asthma and at risk for asthma were referred to a primary care provider (PCP). Results: At baseline, screening of 103 children, ages 3-17 years (mean=7.7 ± 2.9), were categorized as known asthma diagnosis (n = 22), at-risk for undiagnosed asthma (n = 52) and not at-risk for asthma (n = 29). Sixty-two (60.2%) parents responded to the 2-year follow-up. Referral to PCP was kept by 61.5% from the known asthma group and by 24% of children at-risk for asthma. At 2-year follow-up, among not at-risk group, no one converted to at risk status, but majority of children among known asthma group continued to have uncontrolled asthma symptoms, and very few received daily preventive asthma medications. Conclusions: The asthma screening, referral and follow-up intervention for inner city children in a community setting was successful in early identification of patients at-risk for asthma. More education for PCPs on guidelines for diagnosis and management of asthma is needed to decrease childhood asthma morbidity.