This study investigates the prevalence of asthma and asthma-related symptoms in New Orleans inner-city schoolchildren. A cross-sectional survey of 1535 elementary, middle, and high school children (aged 5-18) was conducted by using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) written questionnaire. Lifetime prevalence of wheezing was 39.4%, and lifetime prevalence of asthma was 24.4%. Wheezing during the previous 12 months was reported by 25.7% of the sample. Twenty-one percent of respondents reported having one or more attacks of wheezing per year, with 5.6% reporting four or more attacks per year. Many participants reported sleep disturbance (15.4%), with 6.2% reporting sleep disturbance more than once a week. The 12-month rate of speech limitation due to asthma exacerbation was 6.6%. Exercise-induced asthma was reported by 16.9% of the students, and nocturnal cough (not associated with cold) was reported by 27.3%. Overall, boys reported higher rates of symptoms than girls, and younger children (aged 6-7) reported greater symptoms than older children (aged 13-14). These findings show that prevalence of asthma in this population is elevated, and the ISAAC written questionnaire successfully identified inner-city children at risk for asthma in New Orleans.
When statistics depicted a health crisis for people of all ages living in Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, school of nursing faculty designed and instituted a neighborhood-based initiative to "Razoo Health." This initiative facilitated a paradigm shift from exclusively illness management to include health promotion and disease prevention. "Razoo," a local colloquialism used to claim an opponent's marble during game play, means to snatch or claim. Appropriately, Razoo Health refers to the intent of Louisiana citizens to reclaim and take back the health of the people in the cities' neighborhoods. Working with four inner-city parochial schools and churches as hubs, nursing faculty and students mobilize neighborhood assets, talents, and capacities to form partnerships for healthy change. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Coordinated School Health Model is employed within each neighborhood school to provide health care access, decrease absenteeism, raise test scores, and deliver worksite health programming to faculty and staff and to neighbors and parishioners. Nursing students work with citizens and students of other health care professions to learn community assessment skills and deliver primary, secondary, and tertiary services to individuals, families, and the community. Citizens wear crowns of empowered sovereignty as they take back, or razoo, what is rightfully theirs - health.
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