Definitions: The share of children under age 18 affected by asthma during the past year.
Children affected by asthma are defined as those who have ever been diagnosed by a doctor or health professional as having asthma and who still have asthma, and who experience one or more of the following: used medication for asthma in the past year, had moderate or severe difficulties due to asthma, had an asthma attack in the past year, and/or had been hospitalized for asthma in the past year.
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Data Source: Child Trends analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, National Survey of Children’s Health.
The state-level data used here come from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The NSCH includes information on over 102,000 children under age 18, with roughly 2,000 children per state. Households were selected through a random-digit-dial sample, and one child was randomly selected in each household. Information on each child is based on responses of the parent or guardian in the household who was most knowledgeable about the sampled child’s health. Information was collected via a computer-assisted telephone interview. For more information on the NSCH, see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/slaits/nsch.htm.
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Footnotes:
Updated July 2009.
N.A. - Data not available.
Note: The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are
not included in maps and rankings because they are not states and therefore comparisons on many
indicators of child well being are not meaningful.