Schools and communities need to devise strategies for managing high school students’ asthma, a federal report says, in light of the significant incidence of the chronic respiratory disorder among that age group.
More information on “Self-Reported Asthma Among High School Students—United States, 2003” is available from MedScape.
Nearly 20 percent of more than 13,000 high school students surveyed in 2003 said that they had been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, while 16 percent said that they currently had asthma, according to the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among students with asthma, girls were more likely than boys to have had an attack in the past 12 months, while 9th graders were more likely than any other grade surveyed to report that they had had an asthma attack.
The report, released Aug. 12, recommends that schools take research-based steps to help curb asthma, including further student and staff education on the disorder, limits on smoking in school buildings, and adoption of written response plans for students with asthma.
