Asthma prevalence higher among Filipino American children vs. other Asian ethnicities

Key takeaways:

• Filipino American children had a higher prevalence of asthma than non-Hispanic Black children.
• Most Filipino American children with asthma had an asthma action plan.

The prevalence of asthma among Asian American children appeared similar to that of non-Hispanic white children, but asthma risks varied widely within Asian ethnic groups, according to a study in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

“Using California survey data, we found that childhood lifetime asthma prevalence varied among Asian American ethnic groups, with the lowest prevalence in Korean American children and the highest prevalence in Filipino American children,” Meng Chen, MD, clinical assistant professor of allergy and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, told Healio.

Chen and colleagues used 2011 to 2020 data from the California Health Interview Survey, which collects data from 20,000 people each year through random-digit phone dialing. The researchers looked at asthma prevalence among different races and ethnicities.

The data set included 34,146 children, of whom 13% identified as Asian American. The researchers categorized this cohort further into Asian ethnic groups, including Chinese Americans (27.3%), South Asian Americans (15.2%), Filipino Americans (14.5%), Vietnamese Americans (11.8%), Korean Americans (8.5%), Japanese Americans (7.5%) and other or multiple Asian ethnicities (15.3%).

Overall, age, sex and health insurance status appeared comparable among the Asian American subgroups; however, BMI varied with overweight and obesity (BMI greater than or equal to the 85th percentile) being lowest among Japanese Americans (11.2%; 95% CI, 5.4%-22.%) and highest among Vietnamese Americans (18%; 95% CI, 11.7%-26.8%).

The lifetime prevalence of asthma among Asian American children was 12.5% (95% CI, 9.2%-16.8%), which was similar to the prevalence among non-Hispanic white children (12.2%, 95% CI, 11.2%-13.3%).

In Asian American subgroups, asthma prevalence varied extensively. Korean American children had the lowest asthma prevalence at 5.1% (95% CI, 5.6%-28.4%), and Filipino Americans had the highest at 21.5% (95% CI, 15.2%-29.4%), which was higher than the prevalence of asthma among non-Hispanic Black children (20%, 95% CI, 16.2%-24.5%).

Nearly half (48.6%; 95% CI, 30.1%-67.5%) of Filipino American children with asthma experienced an asthma attack within 12 months before data collection and most (85.9%; 95% CI, 61.4%-95.9%) had an asthma action plan.

BMI did affect asthma risk between lean and overweight/obes status, but the adjusted odds ratios still followed the trends seen earlier. Korean American children still had the lowest risk for asthma both among lean status (aOR 0.41 95% CI, 0.2-0.83) and overweight/obese status (aOR 0.08; 95% CI, 0.02-0.28), and Filipino American children had the highest risk among lean status (aOR 1.85; 95% CI, 1.24-2.76) and overweight/obes status (aOR 3.51; 95% CI, 0.19-63.35)

After adjustment for age, sex and overweight/obesity status, researchers found that Asian American children overall had comparable lifetime odds of asthma (aOR 1.05; 95% CI, 0.71-1.55) as non-Hispanic white children, but Korean American children had the lowest odds (aOR0.37; 95% CI, 0.19-0.73) and Filipino American children had the highest odds (aOR 1.97; 95% CI, 1.22-3.17).

“Our research highlights the importance of and need for disaggregating Asian American ethnic groups in order to better understand distinct clinical features, disease risk and management unique to these distinct Asian American communities,” Chen said.