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Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Population Health Research Brief Series

What Factors Contribute to Racial Disparities in Asthma Prevalence in the United States?

Ali Jones and Marc A. Garcia

December 2024

Abstract

Asthma is strongly associated with the environmental factors in which one lives. Poor environmental factors, such as motor vehicle pollution and lack of emergency room access, lead to a higher prevalence of asthma among Black individuals than White individuals. This brief uses data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to highlight Black-White disparities in asthma from 2019-2021 and demonstrates how living in unhealthy conditions results in a higher burden of asthma in Black communities. 

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health