Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 151, No. 5, May 1995, 1625-1627.
Asthma in Jemez Pueblo schoolchildren
D Clark, R Gollub, WF Green, N Harvey, SJ Murphy and JM Samet
Jemez Pueblo Clinic, Indian Health Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
Asthma, a major chronic health problem of children, has received little
investigation in Native Americans. We conducted a survey of asthma in
children of Jemez Pueblo, Jemez, New Mexico, in response to concerns of the
community and health care providers about the frequency of asthma. In
collaboration with Jemez Pueblo, we developed a standardized questionnaire
and administered it to parents of 318 children aged 3 to 13 years. Parents
reported that 12.3% had been diagnosed as having asthma or reactive airway
disease by a physician or other health care practitioner. Asthma was
reported as still active at the time of the interview for 55% of those
subjects. The study showed that asthma was not uncommon among the Jemez
Pueblo children and, in fact, was more common than in recent nationwide
surveys.
