Exposure to gun violence and asthma among children in Puerto Rico.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Although community violence may influence asthma morbidity by increasing stress, no study has assessed exposure to gun violence and childhood asthma. We examined whether exposure to gun violence is associated with asthma in children, particularly in those reporting fear of leaving their home.

Methods

Case-control study of 466 children aged 9-14 years with (n = 234) and without (n = 232) asthma in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lifetime exposure to gun violence was defined as hearing a gunshot more than once. We also assessed whether the child was afraid to leave his/her home because of violence. Asthma was defined as physician-diagnosed asthma and wheeze in the prior year. We used logistic regression for the statistical analysis. All multivariate models wer

SUBMITTER: Ramratnam SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4522386 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature