Malone Anita M, Gupta Ruchi S, Lyttle Christopher S, Weiss Kevin B
Institute for Healthcare Studies, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
J Asthma. 2008 May;45(4):313-8. doi: 10.1080/02770900801911202.
The goal of this study was to characterize asthma knowledge in high risk neighborhoods compared to a random sample of residents in the Chicago area. The Chicago Community Asthma Survey-32 (CCAS-32) was administered to 1006 Chicago-area residents and 388 residents in 4 high-risk Chicago inner-city neighborhoods. There was a significant difference in asthma knowledge between groups. The general Chicago-area respondents have an average desirable response rate of 71.6% versus 64.7% for respondents in high-risk communities (p < 0.0001). For some aspects of asthma knowledge, e.g., nocturnal cough, cockroach allergen, and vaporizer use, general knowledge was similarly low. For other aspects, such as the need for asymptomatic asthma visits and chest tightness, there were larger gaps between residents of high risk communities and the general community. High-risk neighborhoods in Chicago had lower asthma knowledge compared to the general Chicago community. This discrepancy may be contributing to the disparities seen in asthma morbidity. Public health efforts to increase asthma knowledge in these high risk minority communities may help reduce these disparities. Important misconceptions exist about asthma triggers, signs and symptoms, especially among lower income African American communities, that should be addressed by physicians.
本研究的目的是与芝加哥地区居民的随机样本相比，描述高风险社区的哮喘知识情况。对1006名芝加哥地区居民和芝加哥4个高风险市中心社区的388名居民进行了芝加哥社区哮喘调查-32（CCAS-32）。两组之间在哮喘知识方面存在显著差异。芝加哥地区的一般受访者的平均期望回答率为71.6%，而高风险社区的受访者为64.7%（p < 0.0001）。对于哮喘知识的某些方面，如夜间咳嗽、蟑螂过敏原和加湿器使用，一般知识同样较低。对于其他方面，如无症状哮喘就诊的必要性和胸闷，高风险社区居民与一般社区居民之间存在较大差距。与芝加哥一般社区相比，芝加哥的高风险社区哮喘知识水平较低。这种差异可能导致了哮喘发病率的差异。在这些高风险少数族裔社区开展提高哮喘知识的公共卫生努力可能有助于减少这些差异。关于哮喘触发因素、体征和症状存在重要的误解，尤其是在低收入非裔美国人社区，医生应该解决这些问题。
