Asthma in children of Caribbean descent living in the inner-city: comparing Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean children

Abstract

Ethnic minority children bear a disproportionate amount of the U.S. asthma burden. We compared asthma morbidity and pulmonary function (%FEV1) in two Caribbean groups living in the Bronx, NY: Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean children. Caregiver-child dyads (Puerto Rican: n=113, Mage=9.89α2.05; Afro-Caribbean: n=47, Mage=10.35α2.08) responded to sociodemographic and asthma-related questions, and children’s %FEV1 was measured. Puerto Rican children had significantly greater (past year) asthma morbidity, yet there were no significant differences in %FEV1. This discrepancy between objective pulmonary function and asthma morbidity suggests the importance of considering sociocultural factors in pediatric asthma care.