Asthma not caused by inner-city living, researchers say

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Apartment complexes may have hidden airborne irritants that aggravate allergies and asthma

     In the 1960s, studies found that some of the nation's highest pediatric asthma rates existed in cities like New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C. Since then, there has been a collective assumption that there must be something in the air in poor urban neighborhoods that makes it more likely for children to develop asthma. However, a new study from Johns Hopkins suggests that there may be no causative link between living in the inner city and developing asthma after all.

     Pediatric allergist Dr. Corrine Keet and her colleagues realized that the conventional wisdom that inner cities cause asthma had never been scientifically examined, so they decided to put it to the test. They compared asthma rates in census tracts across the country and came to a surprising conclusion: Children were no more likely to develop asthma in inner city neighborhoods than in rural and suburban ones. There were higher rates of asthma among children in Northeastern cities, but outside of the Northeast, there was no difference between the rates in and outside of the city.

     The major risk factor, rather than location, turned out to be poverty. In the 1960s, poverty was largely concentrated in big cities and some rural areas, but now, with income inequality increasing across the country, poverty is cropping up in more places, including suburbs and small towns. Conditions associated with poverty, such as poor housing stock, second-hand smoke and a limited diet, are all known to be risk factors in the development of childhood asthma. There was also a strong association between childhood asthma and African-American or Puerto Rican heritage, suggesting a possible genetic component.

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