The Invisible Epidemic

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The Invisible Epidemic

The rise of asthma in urban communities is beginning to reach epic proportions. It is a disease that is not limited to the United States, but is endemic to all developed nations and is especially prevalent in urban communities. The drastic rise in asthma and related pulmonary illnesses is surprising because benchmark studies have resulted in an as yet unknown understanding of the disease. All scientists agree, however, that this is a pathology whose etiology can be traced as an overt effect of a modern Western culture.

The effects of asthma are wide reaching and can be studied from many viewpoints. From a societal perspective, sociologists and public health officials cringe when they read the statistics for asthma in children in a poor urban area of New York, versus the national average. The Mott Haven neighborhood of The Bronx, which has a median household income less than one-third of the U.S. median, has an asthma-related hospitalization rate eight times higher than the national average. From an environmental perspective, environmental scientists are discovering that vehicle exhaust can acerbate asthma's symptoms. In Mott Haven a local newspaper counted 550 passing trucks passing one street corner near a school in one hour. In Tehran, Iran, the worlds eighth largest city, levels of industrial pollutants from fossil fuel combustion have risen to four times higher than the standards adopted by the World Health Agency, in only ten years, and asthma related hospitalizations have also risen dramatically. From a cultural perspective the research is also frightening. Research from the Albert Einstein College of medicine indicates that asthma rates may be rising as a direct result of our west...

... middle of paper ...

...inherent in modern civilization.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Alpert, Mark. The Invisible Epidemic. Scientific American. November 1999. P19-20

Asgari, M; Dubois, D: et al. Association of ambient air quality with children's lung function in rural and urban Iran. Archives of Environmental Health. May-June 1998. V53 n3 p222(9).

George, MR; O'Dowd, LC; et al. A comprehensive educational program improves clinical outcome measures in inner-city patients with asthma. Archives of Internal Medicine. 9, August 1999. P1710

Goodman, DC; Stukel, TA; Chiang, Chiang-hua. Trends in pediatric asthma hospitalization rates: regional and socioeconomic differences. Pediatrics. Feb 1998. V101 n2 p208(6)

Henderson, Charles. Primary care-based intervention in inner-city children with Asthma. World Disease Weekly Plus. 10, May 1999 pNA

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