Composite score shows better prediction than individual family-level income, education
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, May 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Neighborhood Child Opportunity Index 2.0 (COI) scores are a stronger predictor of exacerbation-prone asthma status than individual-level metrics of household income and parental education, according to a study presented at the American Thoracic Society s 2023 International Conference, held from May 19 to 24 in Washington, D.C.
Emily Skeen, M.D., from Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues assessed whether a composite score of neighborhood-level child opportunity would predict exacerbation-prone asthma status better than individual-level socioeconomic indicators. The analysis included 193 children (aged 8 to 17 years) participating in an asthma cohort.
The researchers found that the odds of exacerbation-prone classification increased by 40 percent with a 20-point decrease in overall COI. Similar results were seen for education and social/economic domains, but not health/environment. Exacerbation-prone odds increased 10 percent with a $5,000 decrease in household income, while there was no significant association seen for parental education. When adding age and sex predictors (odds ratio, 1.38); Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio, 1.27); and age, sex, and ethnicity (odds ratio, 1.27), COI impact on exacerbation-prone status was similar.
“This highlights both the utility of the COI to identify children at risk for under-treated/more severe asthma in clinical practice and the importance of addressing community factors to mitigate the burden of frequent exacerbations,” the authors write.
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