Home-based educational intervention improves asthma among Hispanic children

Significant improvements in frequency of asthma attacks and symptoms, hospitalization rates and acute care visits, quality of life, and asthma knowledge were reported among a largely Hispanic population with a high asthma hospitalization following a home-based approach to educating families that have children with asthma. The design, results, and implications of this study are published in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology.

In the article "Improving Asthma in Hispanic Families Through a Home-Based Educational Intervention", Genny Carrillo, MD, ScD, MPH, MSPH, School of Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center (McAllen) and coauthors from University of North Texas, Health Science Center (Fort Worth), and South Texas College and Rio Grande Regional Hospital (McAllen), report a decrease in overnight hospital stays from 6% to 1% and a drop in the need for a clinic or doctor visit related to problems with asthma from 50% to 31%.

The authors describe an educational intervention targeted to a population near the Texas-Mexico border that is more than 90% Hispanic. Trained community health workers visited participants' homes, providing allergen-proof mattress and pillow covers and information on reducing exposure to asthma triggers.

"As part of an asthma management team, these community health workers can help build individual and community capacity through health education and self-management training," says Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology Editor-in-Chief Mary Cataletto, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY) in the Editorial "Focusing on High-Needs Hispanic Populations with High Prevalence of Asthma".