Asthma prevalence among American Indian and Alaska native children

Objectives. Although asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness in the United States, little is known about its prevalence among American Ind ian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children, The authors used the latest availab le household survey data to estimate the prevalence of asthma in this popul ation, Methods. The authors analyzed data for children ages 1 through 17 years fro m the 1987 Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives (SAIAN) and the 19 87 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES). At least one member of each AI/AN household included in the SAIAN was eligible for services through the Indian Health Service. Results. The weighted prevalence of parent-reported asthma was 7.06% among 2288 AI/AN children ages 1-17 (95% Ci 5,08, 9,04), compared with a US estim ate of 8.40% for children ages 1-17 based on the 1987 NMES (95% CI 7.65, 9. 1 5). The AI/AN sample was too small to yield stable estimates for a compa rison between AI/AN children and all US children when the data were stratif ied according to household income and metropolitan vs non-metropolitan resi dence. The unadjusted asthma prevalence rates were similar for AI/AN childr en and for children in the NMES sample, Conclusions. In 1987, the prevalence of parent-reported asthma was similar for AI/AN children in the SAIAN sample and for children in the NMES sample. More recent data are needed to better understand the current prevalence of asthma among AI/AN children.