Doctors have described children’s progress from eczema to asthma as the “atopic march,” and they are more aware of the effects it has on white children as compared to their Black counterparts.
Research that is scheduled to be presented at a upcoming conference of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) sheds light on the disparities in racial makeup.
The atopic marches typically begin when a child is born with Atopic dermatology (eczema) and may develop into asthma, along with food and environmental allergies.
In the latest study researchers have found that although Black kids are more likely suffer from asthma, they’re much less likely to be tested for allergies by an allergist.
“We already know that Black children have higher rates of asthma,” said the study’s the study’s author Dr. Ellen Stephen, an allergy/immunology researcher in Rush University Medical Center, located in Chicago. “But the atopic march has just not been studied in Black children as widely as it has in white children.”
Her team reviewed medical records of over 1,000 children aged between 18 and 18 years old that were diagnosed with eczema in one center of medical care.
All in all 728 Black children and 246 white kids had an Eczema diagnose. Of these 31 percent Of Black children were most likely to have asthma diagnoses in comparison to 10 percent of white children.
In total, more than 47 percent of Black children and 69 percent of white children were examined as allergists. Black kids were less likely to be examined for allergens from the environment according to the study.
“Asthma is a common, potentially life-threatening condition affecting the children in our country, and allergist evaluation and environmental allergy testing can be essential to optimizing control of this disease,” Stephen declared in a news release from the academy.
“To minimize existing health care disparities, more research must be done to help us understand what factors underlie the observed differences in the diagnosis and management of atopic diseases, so that we can overcome existing barriers to providing equitable asthma care,” she said.
The findings will be presented to be presented at an AAAAI gathering on February. 25 , in San Antonio. The research presented at medical conferences are considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.
