Above 6th Grade

A young child with asthma has a greater risk of obesity than one without the chronic respiratory condition, a new study suggests. The study only found an association between asthma and obesity, not a direct cause-and-effect relationship. And it doesn't suggest that all kids with asthma will become obese. Asthma and obesity often occur together in children. It is unknown whether asthma contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic. The study aimed to investigate the effects of asthma and asthma medication use on the development of childhood obesity.

Researchers at The George Washington University Department of Health Policy conducted an exhaustive review of the nation's data collection framework for childhood asthma and identified both barriers and opportunities to improve the quality of care for children with asthma. In this brief, authors put forth recommendations for standardizing surveillance measures and expanding existing reporting functions and systems to improve data collection on children with asthma.

This brief focuses on how the medical home model facilitates comprehensive, patient-centered care by fostering partnerships among and between patients and their providers, including primary care doctors, specialists and emergency service providers. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) established the patient-centered medical home as a matter of policy and promotes reforms to support the creation of medical homes for patients with chronic illnesses, including asthma. This brief reviews the key PPACA provisions that advance the medical home concept in public and private health insurance and recommends ways the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can fully utilize the medical home to advance high-quality treatment and effective childhood asthma management.