News from the FDA/CDC

Black women at highest risk for asthma


 

FROM MMWR

Women are much more likely than men to have asthma, and asthma rates among black women are higher than for other races/ethnicities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Percentage of adults with asthma, 2017-2018

Among all women aged 18 years and older, 9.7% reported that they currently had asthma in 2017-2018, compared with 5.5% of men, based on age-adjusted data from the National Health Interview Survey.

The proportion of black, non-Hispanic women with asthma, however, was even higher, at 11.4%. White non-Hispanic women were next at 10.3%, followed by Hispanic (7.8%) and Asian (5.0%) women, the CDC reported June 26 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The same pattern held for men: 6.2% of black men had asthma in 2017-2018, compared with 5.9% of whites, 3.9% of Hispanics, and 3.3% of Asian men, the CDC said.

SOURCE: MMWR. 2020 Jun 26;69(25):805.

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