Asthma Prevalence and Severity in Arab American Communities in the Detroit Area, Michigan

Immigrant populations provide a unique intersection of cultural and environmental risk factors implicated in asthma etiology. This study focuses on asthma prevalence and severity in 600 Arab American households in metro Detroit, the largest immigrant reception zone for Arab Americans in North America. The survey method introduced a number of novel features: (a) a ranking scheme for the key environmental risk factors for asthma was used to derive an aggregated environmental risk index (ERI) for each household, and (b) an aggregate measure of asthma severity based on symptom frequency and intensity. Environmental risk factors and surrogates for socioeconomic status (SES) were found to be stronger predictors of asthma prevalence than asthma severity, while demographic variables such as English fluency and birth in the United States were better predictors of asthma severity than asthma prevalence. These results suggest that SES variables may be more reflective of environmental exposures in communities involved in this study, while English fluency and birth in the United States may be linked to health care access and utilization behavior that can influence the asthma management. We also found a significant relationship between asthma prevalence and degree of acculturation. Asthma prevalence was highest among moderately acculturated immigrants compared with new immigrants and those who were well acculturated, suggesting that among Arab Americans in the Detroit area, risk factors associated with new immigrant status are replaced by “western” risk factors as the population becomes more acculturated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44945/1/10903_2005_Article_3673.pd

Illness perception in pediatric somatization and asthma: complaints and health locus of control beliefs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health- and illness-related cognitions of pediatric patients with asthma or somatization and of their caregivers are considered relevant for patient education and for cognitive-behavioral interventions. This study investigates the relationship between diagnosis and illness perception by child and parent in two different chronic conditions such as somatization disorder and asthma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>25 patients with somatoform disorders and 25 patients with asthma bronchiale completed the Giessen Complaint List and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale. Primary caregivers independently answered parallel proxy-report instruments. Analyses of variance were performed to determine the impact of diagnosis and perspective. Correlations were calculated to determine the concordance between patient and caregiver reports.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No statistically significant differences in illness locus of control beliefs were found between asthma and somatoform disorder children or parents. Parents reported more internal and fatalistic locus of control beliefs compared with their children. Correlations between patient and caregiver reports of symptoms and health locus of control beliefs were low to moderate.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Clinicians should take into account a sense of insufficient symptom control in both diagnostic groups and different viewpoints of patients and their parents.</p