Affiliation:
1. Department of Population Health
2. Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
3. Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
Abstract
Background
It is unclear whether there are racial/ethnic disparities in the risk of upper respiratory viral infection acquisition and/or lower respiratory manifestations.
Methods
We studied all children and children with asthma aged 6 to 17 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007–2012) to evaluate (1) the association between race/ethnicity and upper respiratory infection (URI) and (2) whether race/ethnicity is a risk factor for URI-associated pulmonary eosinophilic inflammation or decreased lung function.
Results
Children who identified as Black (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.38; 95% CI, 1.10–1.75) and Mexican American (aOR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.16–1.94) were more likely to report a URI than those who identified as White. Among those with asthma, Black children were more than twice as likely to report a URI than White children (aOR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.31–3.95). Associations between URI and pulmonary eosinophilic inflammation or lung function did not differ by race/ethnicity.
Conclusions
Findings suggest that there may be racial and ethnic disparities in acquiring a URI but not in the severity of infection. Given that upper respiratory viral infection is tightly linked to asthma exacerbations in children, differences in the risk of infection among children with asthma may contribute to disparities in asthma exacerbations.
Funder
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Dell Medical School
National Eczema Association/Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology and Allergy
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