Ethnic symptom descriptors: induced bronchoconstriction

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Asthma is a major health care concern that affects all individuals but disproportionately affects ethnic minorities. Pilot work Jnthis area has shown that the words that asthmatics use to describe their symptoms during acute episodes influence the treatment derisions by health providers. The symptom word descriptors, or the language of breathlessness, typically used by whites to describe their states of breathlessness during acute bronchoconstriction have been clearly delineated; however, Our knowledge of the symptom word descriptors used by African Americans, Latinos, and Asian/Pacific islanders during acute asthma episodes is extremely limited. This study aims first to determine whether the descriptors used by ethnic minority adults to describe their acute symptoms during induced bronchoconstriction differ from those used by white adults to describe their acute symptoms during induced bronchoconstriction. Secondly, we will assess whether and how emergency room treatments administered to asthmatic patients vary by ethnicity as a function of the words used by different patient populations in describing their acute asthma symptoms. This two-part study builds on earlier pilot work conducted by the Pdncipat investigator and her Collaborator/Mentor.