Screening for asthma in an inner-city elementary school in Minneapolis, Minnesota

To the extent that the asthma morbidity so prevalent in children today is d ue to underdiagnosis or tack of appropriate treatment, schools are increasi ngly faced with the issue of defining their role in the care of children wi th asthma. This paper describes efforts to conduct schoolwide screening for asthma in an inner-city elementary school over the past two years. Screeni ng methodology adopted for the project resulted in a simple and noninvasive approach for identifying children with current asthma in a school setting. White not as medically comprehensive as would be required to conclusively diagnose asthma, the simple screening approach proved efficient in identify ing a population of elementary school children with a significant level of asthma morbidity. The paper discusses the effectiveness and feasibility of the screening efforts and proposes how such a screening program might be in corporated into the routine health activities undertaken at any elementary school.