A study of students undertaken by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that the majority of children with asthma also had allergic rhinitis, popularly known as hay fever. The symptoms of hay fever include a runny nose, sneezing, congestion, and sinus pressure, and it can worsen asthma.
Jessica Stern, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of Pediatrics and the division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, led the study, which showed that children who had both asthma and hay fever had lower asthma outcomes. The study’s findings were reported in the Journal of Asthma.
This study examined data from three NIH-funded studies including 1,029 Rochester schoolchildren with asthma (directed by Jill Halterman, M.D., professor in the department of Pediatrics). The studies’ major purpose was to see if giving children preventative asthma drugs at school improved their asthma symptoms. While the majority of children in these studies had better asthma symptoms after receiving their drugs, a subset of children did not. This encouraged the researchers to investigate additional health issues that may have prevented the youngsters from receiving a complete therapeutic response.
“Through our study, we found that many of the children who did not report improved symptoms had allergic rhinitis in addition to asthma, and these children had more asthma symptoms, used their rescue medication more, and missed more school days compared to those without allergic rhinitis,” said Stern.
This study examined data from three NIH-funded studies including 1,029 Rochester schoolchildren with asthma (directed by Jill Halterman, M.D., professor in the department of Pediatrics). The studies’ major purpose was to see if giving children preventative asthma drugs at school improved their asthma symptoms. While the majority of children in these studies had better asthma symptoms after receiving their drugs, a subset of children did not. This encouraged the researchers to investigate additional health issues that may have prevented the youngsters from receiving a complete therapeutic response.
Importantly, less than half of the children with hay fever were receiving proper treatment for their symptoms, including nasal sprays and recommended anti-histamines; nor had they been seen by asthma or allergy specialists.
“This is critical because it highlights gaps in care and needed treatments, which may contribute to the disparities in asthma outcomes that we see in children who primarily identify as Black or Latino, or are from low resourced communities,” said Stern. “These findings also encourage a focus on contributing environmental factors and the social determinants of health for these children. The burden of allergic disease is often under-recognized and undertreated in historically marginalized populations, and we have an opportunity and obligation to address this to improve outcomes.”
Dr. Stern will be continuing this work to understand the multiple influences in a child’s life that impact their asthma. She has grant funding from the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Award, NHLBI, and the URMC Quality Institute.
“We are working to create a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to overcome structural obstacles to equitable care for children with asthma. This will involve collaboration with caregivers and patients to plan systems of care that work for them. We understand that families are the experts, and we have to listen to what they think,” said Stern.
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