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Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today joined Health Commissioner Neal L. Cohen, M.D. to announce that the asthma hospitalization rate for children ages 0-14 in the City has dropped 35.4% between 1997 and 2000, and has declined by 25.3% between 1999 and 2000. The current rate of 6.4 per 1,000 is the lowest hospitalization rate in New York City since 1988. A significant decrease occurred in neighborhoods where hospitalization rates have traditionally been highest. The Mayor and Dr. Cohen credit the Health Department's Citywide Asthma Initiative and the partnerships forged with medical providers, schools, and community organizations for this decline. Also joining the Mayor for the announcement was Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) President Luis Marcos, M.D.

"The asthma data being presented today demonstrate that we have achieved a key health objective in reversing asthma trends in New York City," Mayor Giuliani said. "This success is largely due to the efforts of the Health Department's Childhood Asthma Initiative, which has helped children with asthma to lead more healthy lives. Credit for the decrease in asthma hospitalization rates throughout the five boroughs also goes to the Health and Hospitals Corporation, and the numerous medical providers and community organizations both agencies have worked with to make these impressive strides."

Dr. Cohen said, "Reducing asthma rates and decreasing the suffering experienced by those with asthma have been among the Health Department's top priorities. Because asthma hospitalizations represent the most serious manifestation of the disease, a decline in this area indicates the success of far-reaching community and education efforts to promote better management of asthma in New York City. The 2000 data not only indicate that the overall rate of asthma declined in each borough and in all communities, but that the disparity in hospitalization rates between high and low-income neighborhoods has also narrowed significantly. This accomplishment is a remarkable achievement of the Giuliani administration and demonstrates considerable progress toward the federal government's Healthy People 2010 initiative."

In 2000, there were a total of 9,541 hospitalizations among children 14 years old and younger (6.4 hospitalizations per 1,000 children) representing a 35.4% decline from the 14,780 hospitalizations in 1997 for children in the same age group (9.9 hospitalizations per 1,000 children). Over the same period of time, asthma hospitalization rates decreased in all five boroughs: 43% in Manhattan (11.3 per 1,000 to 6.4 per 1,000), 42% in the Bronx (16.6 per 1,000 to 9.62 per 1,000), 33% in Brooklyn (8.5 per 1,000 to 5.7 per 1,000), 31% in Staten Island (3.95 per 1,000 to 2.72 per1,000), and 20% in Queens (7 per 1,000 to 5.6 per 1,000).

Low-income neighborhoods throughout the city experienced some of the most dramatic decreases in asthma hospitalizations. Asthma hospitalization rates decreased 55.3% in the Hunts Point/Mott Haven area of the Bronx, a neighborhood where the Health Department has implemented a comprehensive community-based asthma-management program. In East Harlem, the site of another comprehensive community-based program, asthma hospitalization rates dropped almost 41%. Though East Harlem remains the neighborhood with the highest rate of asthma hospitalization in New York City, rates of asthma hospitalization decreased from 28.8 per 1,000 children in 1997 to 17 per 1,000 in 2000.

Other neighborhoods with significant declines in childhood asthma hospitalizations from 1997 to 2000 include: Union Square-Lower East Side (53.5%), Chelsea-Clinton (50.4%), Crotona-Tremont (50.1%), Fordham-Bronx-Park (47.5%), and Washington-Heights-Inwood (45.4%).

Asthma hospitalization data are based on reports made to the State through its Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS), and represents the total number of hospitalizations rather than the number of individuals hospitalized.

New York City Childhood Asthma Initiative

Because improved medical care alone cannot reduce asthma hospitalizations, the New York City Childhood Asthma Initiative emphasizes strengthening family and community efforts to properly manage and control asthma. With a special focus on communities with high rates of asthma hospitalization, the Childhood Asthma Initiative has developed programs and partnerships that educate families to better understand and manage asthma, and improve home environments to reduce exposures to possible asthma triggers. It has also employed outreach workers that forge partnerships between the medical and social service communities; implemented the Open Airways initiative, a school based-asthma intervention program; and launched numerous public education campaigns.

To date, the New York City Health Department's Childhood Asthma Initiative has achieved a long list of accomplishments:

For more information about asthma management, please call the Health Department's Asthma Action line 1-877-ASTHMA-0 (1-877-278-4620) or visit nyc.gov/health.

www.nyc.gov