Report: More asthma emergency room visits for minority kids

A new report from the Connecticut Department of Public Health says between 2005 and 2009, the number of asthma-related emergency room visits for Hispanic children increased nearly 51%. The report on asthma also says black children had the highest annual rates of hospitalizations because of asthma. Eileen Boulay of the Department of Public Health says they’re trying to determine why so many of these kids wind up going to the hospital.
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The report says conditions like pollution, inadequate housing, poor health care access and communication, and a lack insurance coverage can contribute to asthma problems. It says in 2011 the state Department of Public Health received funding from the CDC and later from the Affordable Care Act to address chronic disease prevention and health disparities. And it says the department plans to collect more detailed data on chronic diseases like asthma, and they plan to work more closely with health care providers and policy makers on the issue.