Black children may have more severe asthma episodes than their white counterparts but are less likely to be transported to the hospital by emergency medical services , according to a new study published in the journalA baseline understanding of how prehospital treatments and transport for children with asthma varies by patient race, ethnicity andwill aid in future research and efforts to improve equitable pediatric asthma treatments, say the researchers.
"We have a lot of data on hospital management of childhood asthma but very little information to show how well we are treating asthma in the pre-hospital environment or if there are disparities," said lead author Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, M.D., pediatric emergency medicine physician and emergencyTo learn more about how EMS personnel manage and treat asthma in a pre-hospital setting, Owusu-Ansah and her team used ato analyze 5,266 EMS encounters with children ages 2 through 17.