Can equal access to care eliminate racial disparities in pediatric asthma outcomes?

A survey was given to the parents of 80 children with asthma between the ages of 3 and 18 years at the Pediatric Pulmonology Clinics of three military treatment facilities to evaluate asthma management and outcomes for different racial groups. Results demonstrated that management practices for the three groups were similar and that there were no significant differences in emergency department visits, prescription of oral steroids, or in the number of hospitalizations across the three groups. These findings suggest that equal access to care may allow children of different racial backgrounds to receive similar asthma care and achieve similar outcomes.