Filed Under: Environmental Issues | New York City | Public Health | Public Health

Asthma

NYC smogAsthma is a serious chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs which causes the muscles surrounding the bronchial tubes to become swollen, narrowing the air passages and making it difficult to breath. Poor indoor and outdoor air quality have been identified as major aggravations of this debilitating disease. Despite the stringent air quality controls imposed by federal and state regulations over the past 20 years, national asthma rates are up 75% since 1980. More than 17 million Americans suffer from asthma, almost one third of them children under 18, according to the American Lung Association.

Asthma is especially prevalent in New York City. According to the City's Department of Health's Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Disease Prevention, NYC children are almost three times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as children in the rest of the country, and four times as likely as children in the rest of the state. Asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization, emergency room visits and missed school days among New York City children. The City also has the highest asthma mortality rate in the country with 10.1 deaths per 100,000.      

Many of the City's asthmatics live in poor neighborhoods like East Harlem and the South Bronx, where asthma rates are eight times higher than the national average. Children in low-income communities are five times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as children in high income communities, while older people in low income communities are about six times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as older people in high income communities.

One explanation for the high asthma rates in these neighborhoods is the air pollutants brought about by the area's disproportionate number of the City's infrastructure facilities - waste transfer stations, bus depots and highways - choked with diesel-powered vehicles emitting particulate pollution, a major contributor to asthmatic conditions. Asthma is also prevalent among residents living near busy La Guardia and JFK airports in Queens, where airplane exhaust raises levels of air pollutants in their neighborhoods.

The MTA has recently installed fuel emissions devices on all city buses in an effort to reduce air pollution, a move which much of the environmental community has applauded.  Still, the city’s  school buses, a fleet of over 5,600, do not carry such devices. The Air Quality section of this guide discusses the issue of vehicle emissions in greater detail.

Another major cause of asthma, indoor air pollution, poses one of the top five risks to public health today, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most people spend 90% of their time indoors, where air can be two to five times and, on occasion, 100 times as polluted as outdoor air, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Cigarette smoke, dust mites, molds, dampness and cockroaches are among the sources that have all been clearly implicated as triggers for asthma symptoms.

Asthma Resources
Environmental Protection Agency Asthma specialist
800-315-8056
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Information Clearinghouse
800-438-4318
American Lung Association: 800-LUNG-USA
National Hispanic Indoor Air Quality Hotline:
800-SALUD-12/ (202) 387-5000 (español)
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Asthma Action Line:
877-278-4620

Parties Involved

Government: Federal: National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency; State: Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Health; City: Department of Sanitation, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Department of Environmental Protection, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Public Advocate, City Council.

Advocates: Natural Resources Defense Council, West Harlem Environmental Action Coalition, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, New York Public Interest Research Group, American Lung Association.