Sixth Annual Pediatric Asthma Conference - The Future of Asthma

 描述（由申请人提供）：目前有700万儿童被诊断患有哮喘。哮喘对非裔美国人和西班牙裔儿童的影响尤为严重，患病率更高、严重程度更高，住院和死亡的可能性也更大。生活在城市地区的儿童也表现出哮喘发病率增加，严重程度更高，住院治疗更频繁，死亡率更高。从2001年到2009年，非裔美国儿童的哮喘发病率增加了近50%。哮喘是儿童入院的主要诊断。哮喘也是缺课的主要原因之一，哮喘学生每年因哮喘加重而缺课约1050万天。哮喘是最常见的慢性儿童疾病，也是儿童残疾的重要原因。这种疾病会影响儿童及其家庭，导致学习受限，无法活动，甚至睡眠质量差。避免活动的哮喘患者（要么是因为他们没有得到很好的药物治疗，要么是因为他们没有接受过关于运动和哮喘的教育）可能会导致自尊心不强、肥胖、高血压、糖尿病、代谢综合征、骨质疏松症、成人发病较早，甚至寿命缩短。如果医生和家庭能够被说服更加一致地遵循已知的理想护理方法，那么住院和紧急护理访问的高昂医疗费用都可以降低，儿童的生活质量也可以显著改善-正如NHLBI哮喘指南所体现的那样。作为2009年开始的多方面哮喘质量改进计划的一部分，全国儿童医院开始举办年度儿科哮喘会议，旨在为哮喘患者的社区和医院护理提供有关哮喘护理的新信息和实用建议。2015年的会议旨在通过增加针对特定受众的会议，向更广泛的地理区域进行营销，以及国家认可的哮喘护理领域演讲者的参与来扩大。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Seven million children are currently diagnosed with asthma. Asthma disproportionally affects African American and Hispanic children with a higher prevalence, greater severity and increased likelihood of hospitalization and death. Children living in urban areas also show increased asthma prevalence, greater severity, more frequent hospitalization and higher mortality rates. From 2001 through 2009 asthma rates increased in African American children by almost 50%. Asthma is the leading diagnosis for which children are admitted to hospital. Asthma is also one of the leading causes of school absences with asthmatic students missing about 10.5 million school days each year due to asthma exacerbations. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and is a significant cause of childhood disability. This disease encumbers affected children and their families, causing limits to learning, inability to be active and even poor quality of sleep. Asthmatics who avoid activity (either because they are not well medicated or because they are not educated about exercise and asthma) are candidates for poor self-esteem, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, earlier development of adult onset illness, and even a shortened life-span. Both the high cost of healthcare for hospital admissions and urgent care visits can be reduced and the children's quality of life significantly improved if practitioners and families can be convinced to more consistently follow known ideal methods of care - as embodied in the NHLBI Asthma Guidelines. As part of a multi-faceted asthma quality improvement program started in 2009, Nationwide Children's Hospital began hosting an Annual Pediatric Asthma Conference aimed at providing new information and practical advice regarding asthma care for community and hospital care providers of asthma patients. The 2015 conference seeks to expand through the addition of sessions targeted to specific audiences, marketing to a wider geographic area, and involvement of nationally recognized speakers in the field of asthma care.