April 7, 2000
BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Birmingham elementary school asthma management study is wrapping up four years of research on asthma in children. The project was designed to see if there were significant numbers of children with undiagnosed asthma in the Birmingham community, establish ways to identify such children, and create an educational program to teach children and school staff how to better manage asthma.
“Preliminary results seem to confirm that undiagnosed and untreated asthma in children is a very real problem, particularly in urban areas,” said Dr. William Bailey, director of the UAB Lung Health Center and principal investigator for the study. “This is a community health concern that our society must address.”
Project officials will throw a “Thank You” party for the children and families who participated in the program on May 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Bartow Arena on UAB’s campus. Over 700 children from the 49 Birmingham city schools who took part in the project will be invited to attend. City high school art classes will design informational booths with a safari theme to present asthma management material. While browsing through the booths, attendees will meet the mascots — including UAB’s Blaze and mascots from area community organizations and businesses.
Participants will also hear from James Bristow, a former UAB football and basketball player who successfully competed in athletics at the major college level while managing his own asthma. Each student will also receive a trophy signifying that they completed the asthma program.
It is estimated that 6 to 10 percent of children in the United States have asthma, but as many as half of those have not been properly diagnosed. Early intervention and treatment can lead to successful management of asthma. For the past fours years, UAB has been one of three centers participating in a National Institutes of Health project to identify children with asthma and teach them to properly manage the disease.
The first stage of the project, begun in 1996, involved identification of children with undiagnosed asthma. In-school testing in 1996, 1997, and 1998 found 1088 students with asthma, 19% of whom were undiagnosed prior to the beginning of the project. The second phase involved school-based instruction on asthma management for the newly diagnosed children, as well as children with previously diagnosed asthma. Students learned about asthma triggers and appropriate medications. The classes taught the children to learn to how to manage their asthma. The testing and data collection phases of the trial are about to end. The final in-school education component will wrap up this fall.
The safari celebration is sponsored by Glaxo Wellcome, UAB, Children’s Hospital, and the American Lung Association of Alabama. The Zeta Phi Beta service sorority will be honored for their continuing service to the project. Those who participated in the project and who are interested in attending may call (205) 934-0363 for more information.