Memphis named most challenging city for people with asthma

Memphis, Tennessee, was ranked the most challenging city in the United States for people with asthma to live in, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s annual top 100 list.

“Each year for our report, we look at the largest cities across the country and measure the things that people with asthma care about the most,” Mike Tringale, MSM, senior vice president of external affairs of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and principal investigator for the report, said in a press release.

To compile the Asthma Capital reports, the organizers look at 13 factors relating to asthma prevalence, environmental conditions and health care utilization.

“Obviously we look at pollen, pollution, and ozone because nature affects adults and kids with asthma,” Tringale said. “But we also look at poverty, uninsured rates and city smoking bans because public policies also matter.”

The foundation’s top 10 most challenging U.S. cities in 2015 for people with asthma to live in:

1. Memphis, Tennessee;
2. Richmond, Virginia;
3. Philadelphia;
4. Detroit;
5. Oklahoma City;
6. Augusta, Georgia;
7. Knoxville, Tennessee;
8. Chattanooga, Tennessee;
9. New Orleans; and
10. Chicago.