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Many children with health conditions lack school management plans
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Recent data show only a small number of children with asthma or food allergies have a health management plan in Chicago public schools, indicating access to school health management plans could be improved.
Ruchi S. Gupta, MD, MPH, of Northwestern University, and colleagues analyzed data from the Chicago Public Schools database for children with documented asthma or food allergies. Researchers assessed demographic and geographic variability and the existence of school health management plans. The study was conducted during the 2012-2013 school year.
Ruchi S. Gupta
Of 402,788 children who attended Chicago public schools, 18,287 had physician-diagnosed asthma and 4,250 had a food allergy.
Approximately 9% of children with asthma also had a food allergy and 40.1% of children with a food allergy also had asthma.
Approximately 24% of children with asthma and 50.9% of children with a food allergy had a documented school health management plan. About 57% of children with asthma and a food allergy had a documented school health management plan.
The odds of having a school health management plan decreased as age increased among children with asthma. Boys were less likely to have a plan than girls; as were black and Hispanic students when compared with white students.
There was a greater proportion of children from the general student population who qualified for free school lunch compared with children with a food allergy (78.1% vs. 57.1%).
Students who qualified for free or reduced school lunch were less likely to have a school health management plan compared with students who did not qualify.
Children with asthma or a food allergy were more likely to have a health management plan if they were “immunization compliant.”
Children with asthma and a food allergy were significantly more likely to have a documented health management plan compared with children with asthma alone (OR=4.1; 95% CI, 3.7-4.6).
“It is imperative to work toward an accurate chronic disease reporting and management system, whereby students who have recorded asthma and food allergy have access to proper and timely in-school management of their condition,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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