A record number of Pennsylvania school children have added one more item to their backpacks: an asthma diagnosis from their family physicians.
Health officials have no clear answer why more Pennsylvania students are diagnosed with asthma today than five years ago.
A panel of state health experts led by the Pennsylvania Department of Health has launched a federally funded effort to develop a statewide asthma plan and to create a surveillance system to track asthma rates in the commonwealth.
Pennsylvania Medical Society member physician and pulmonary specialist Richard T. Bell, MD, of Reading, says that the state effort will be invaluable in understanding why asthma rates are rising.
“Clearly, asthma is on the increase, particularly for our state’s children,” says Dr. Bell. “Most likely, the increase is resulting from a combination of factors, which could include improvements in our ability to diagnose the chronic condition, an increase in public awareness, and environmental factors such as air pollution and second-hand smoke.”
During the past two decades, national asthma rates among children have risen dramatically. Currently, an estimated 5 million children younger than 18 have been diagnosed with asthma.
According to the state Department of Health, the number of school-age children with asthma has increased from almost 138,000 students, or 6.6 percent of the student population during the 1997-98 school year, to more than 201,088, or 9.8 percent during 2003-04.
According to Dr. Bell, as the number of diagnoses continues to rise, it is important for parents to provide school officials with pertinent health information on their children’s condition.
Advice
The Pennsylvania Medical Society advises parents to have up-to-date asthma action plans for affected children and to provide copies to school officials or school nurses.
Parents also may wish to provide their schools with medical history wallet cards listing their children’s allergies, prescription drugs, surgeries, and other medical conditions.
In addition, parents should:
- Complete necessary school forms, such as ones that permit students to carry and self-administer their medications, if allowed by the school district.
- Provide medications to school.
- Provide information about the child’s symptoms, warning signs, and triggers to school officials and exact instructions for procedures in case of an emergency.
- Meet with teachers and coaches to educate them about their child’s asthma and allergies.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society and its member physicians remind parents that knowledge is an important tool for controlling asthma.
Dr. Bell advises, “It is essential that parents work with their children’s physicians to develop an understanding of the disease and how to control it effectively.”