Immigration and Acculturation-Related Factors and Asthma Morbidity in Latino Children

Abstract

Asthma-related educational and intervention programs for Latino children and families should be tailored to consider the effects that the immigration and acculturation experience can have on asthma management. Specific family-based supports focused on decreasing stress related to the acculturation process, and increasing social and family support around the asthma treatment process may help to reduce asthma morbidity in Latino children.

Pulmonary Disease and Age at Immigration among Hispanics. Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

“…Several studies suggest that persons in and from Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, have a particularly high prevalence of asthma (4,(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). However, direct comparisons between Hispanics of different heritages are not available, except in smaller studies that do not allow confident conclusions to be drawn about possible differences in respiratory disease across Hispanic groups.…”

Relationship between in utero C-reactive protein levels and asthma in at-risk children

“…Asthma prevalence has been found to be highest in Puerto Ricans, followed by Cubans and Dominicans, and lowest in Central Americans and Mexicans. 16,17 The reason for this disparity remains unknown, and it is debatable whether the protection is due to differences in early life exposures or to lifestyle and environmental factors that are likely to change with acculturation. Within the present population, Mexican children were less likely to have asthma than nonMexican children; however, maternal CRP levels were significantly associated with the development of asthma in Mexican children, whereas there was no association between CRP levels and asthma in non-Mexicans.…”

Asthma in the Disadvantaged: A Phenotype in Need of a Personalized, Multidisciplinary Approach to Therapy

“…Stress related to immigration and acculturation factors has also shown to worsen asthma morbidity and increase emergency room utilization for asthma [69]. Intimate partner violence has been shown to increase asthma incidence in affected families [70].…”