Children with Asthma Often Miss School

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with asthma, especially young children, miss more days of school than those without asthma, according to a new report.

Dr. Kenny Y. C. Kwong and colleagues from the University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles examined the pattern of school absenteeism in 528 mostly Hispanic children attending a Los Angeles inner city school. They divided the students into three groups: known asthma, high probability of asthma, and low probability of asthma.

Children with known asthma missed an average of 2 more total days of school per year than those with a high probability or low probability of asthma. Respiratory-related absences accounted for 2.7 missed days per year for known asthmatics and 1.3 to 1.4 missed days per year compared with the other two groups.

Younger children with known asthma also missed more school than older children.

"Increased school absenteeism likely represents greater asthma severity and/or lack of adequate asthma control, thus causing more symptoms and requiring more visits to the emergence department or hospital," Kwong's team offers.

SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics December 2005.