According to a recent article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, people of the black race have a higher risk for complications of asthma. Experts have known this for some time, but a new study provides more information about this issue.

For the study, 678 patients in one particular health care system were interviewed after discharge from a hospitalization for asthma to learn more about their asthma history, health status, and socioeconomic status.

Researchers also monitored these patients for an average of about 2 years to watch for subsequent emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalizations for their asthma.

The results showed that black people faced a significantly higher risk for emergency visits and hospitalizations. Contrary to previous beliefs, there was no relationship between socioeconomic status, asthma severity, or type of asthma therapy.

So, these findings suggest that genetic factors may play a large role in asthma outcomes.

My advice? While it is important for every asthmatic to have a detailed Asthma Action Plan and to both avoid known triggers as much as possible and take all asthma medicines exactly as prescribed, all this is doubly important for black people with asthma.

Black people need to be diligent in checking for signs of an impending asthma attack and then acting on them immediately, in order to prevent an asthma emergency.