Multi-Level Socioenvironmental Contributors to Childhood Asthma in New York City
A Cluster Analysis
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: November 29,2021
This journal article describes a study that looked at the relationship between socioeconomic and environmental factors—such as race, income, education, and building and neighborhood characteristics—on the likelihood of children having asthma attacks.
Primary Takeaways
Children living in neighborhoods with greater proportions of rental housing, high-density buildings, and older buildings were more likely to experience asthma exacerbations than other children,” the authors write.
Overview and Objectives
Asthma attacks are a top reason children go to the emergency room, and Black and Hispanic children are more likely than other children to be affected. The authors wanted to know what socioeconomic and environmental factors make New York City children more likely to have an asthma attack.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors used data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s KIDS 2017 survey and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to create clusters of factors, such as education, race and ethnicity, income level, gentrification, population density, proportion of renters, and proportion of older buildings.
How This Influences Change
The authors hope policymakers will use the findings of this study to create interventions that reduce neighborhood-level risks for childhood asthma.
Research: Go Deeper
Childhood asthma exacerbation remains the leading cause of pediatric emergency department visits and hospitalizations and disproportionately affects Latinx and Black children, compared to non-Latinx White children in NYC. Environmental exposures and socioeconomic factors may jointly contribute to childhood asthma exacerbations; however, they are often studied separately. To better investigate the multiple contributors to disparities in childhood asthma, we compiled data on various individual and neighborhood level socioeconomic and environmental factors, including education, race/ethnicity, income disparities, gentrification, housing characteristics, built environment, and structural racism, from the NYC Department of Health’s KIDS 2017 survey and the US Census’ American Community Survey. We applied cluster analysis and logistic regression to first identify the predominant patterns of social and environmental factors experienced by children in NYC and then estimate whether children experiencing specific patterns are more likely to experience asthma exacerbations. We found that housing and built environment characteristics, such as density and age of buildings, were the predominant features to differentiate the socio-environmental patterns observed in New York City. Children living in neighborhoods with greater proportions of rental housing, high-density buildings, and older buildings were more likely to experience asthma exacerbations than other children. These findings add to the literature about childhood asthma in urban environments, and can assist efforts to target actionable policies and practices that promote health equity related to childhood asthma.
J Urban Health, November 29, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-021-00582-7
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
- Sana Khan
- Sarah Bajwa
- Diksha Brahmbhatt
- Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir
- Perry E. Sheffield
- Jeanette A. Stingone
- Sheng Li
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