PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - John Heintzman
AU  - Jorge Kaufmann
AU  - Jennifer Lucas
AU  - Shakira Suglia
AU  - Arvin Garg
AU  - Jon Puro
AU  - Sophia Giebultowicz
AU  - David Ezekiel-Herrera
AU  - Andrew Bazemore
AU  - Miguel Marino
TI  - Asthma Care Quality, Language, and Ethnicity in a Multi-State Network of Low-Income Children
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2020.05.190468
DP  - 2020 Sep 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 707--715
VI  - 33
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/33/5/707.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/33/5/707.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2020 Sep 01; 33
AB  - Introduction: Prior research has documented disparities in asthma outcomes between Latino children and non-Hispanic whites, but little research directly examines the care provided to Latino children over time in clinical settings.Methods: We utilized an electronic health record–based dataset to study basic asthma care utilization (timely diagnosis documentation and medication prescription) between Latino (Spanish preferring and English preferring) and Non-Hispanic white children over a 13-year study period.Results: In our study population (n = 37,614), Latino children were more likely to have Medicaid, be low income, and be obese than non-Hispanic white children. Latinos (Spanish preferring and English preferring) had lower odds than non-Hispanic whites of having their asthma recorded on their problem list on the first day the diagnosis was noted (odds ratio [OR] = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.77 to 0.89 Spanish preferring; OR = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87 to 0.99 English preferring). Spanish-preferring Latinos had higher odds of ever receiving a prescription for albuterol (OR = 1.96; 95% CI, 1.52 to 2.52), inhaled corticosteroids (OR = 1.45; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.09), or oral steroids (OR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.04) than non-Hispanic whites. Among those with any prescription, Spanish-preferring Latinos had higher rates of albuterol prescriptions compared with non-Hispanic whites (adjusted rate ratio [aRR] = 1.0; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.13).Conclusions: In a multi-state network of clinics, Latino children were less likely to have their asthma entered on their problem list the first day it was noted than non-Hispanic white children, but otherwise did not receive inferior care to non-Hispanic white children in other measures. Further research can examine other parts of the asthma care continuum to better understand asthma disparities.