CHICAGO — Asthma rates in U.S. children have quieted down after a decades-long increase, a government study found, and researchers are trying to pinpoint reasons that would explain the trend.
A possible plateau in childhood obesity rates and declines in air pollution are among factors that might have helped lower cases in kids, the 2001-13 study suggests.
Overall, average asthma rates among kids ages 17 and younger increased slightly, then leveled off and declined by the study’s end, when 8.3 percent of kids were affected. Rates varied among some regions, races and ages.
Childhood asthma rates doubled from 1980 to 1995, partly because of more awareness and diagnosis.
Declines in the most recent years were in children younger than 5, Latino children, those in the Midwest and those from families that weren’t poor.
Rates plateaued among whites and those living in the Northeast and West, but increased in those ages 10 to 17, kids from poor families and those living in the South.
The study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
