About nine percent of Wisconsin residents, or 450,000 people, have ever been diagnosed with

asthma (Family Health Survey, 2001). Although preventable, inpatient hospitalizations and emergency department visits resulting from asthma common and expensive. Among Wisconsin residents in 2002, there were over 5,000 asthma hospitalizations and over 22,000 asthma hospital emergency department visits. Wisconsin. Charges for these visits totaled $36 million and $13.3 million, respectively, in 2002 alone. The past few years have shown some promising asthma trends:

–the prevalence of asthma in Wisconsin has remained fairly stable over the past eight years and, asthma inpatient hospitalization and mortality rates have declined slightly over the past three years. Despite these positive developments, certain sub-populations continue to be disproportionately affected by asthma.

The African American population in Wisconsin has the highest prevalence of asthma, is hospitalized

at six times the rate of the white population, and has a four-fold higher rate of asthma mortality. The

Native American population also has an elevated asthma prevalence and asthma hospitalization

rate compared to the white population. Children, particularly those four years and younger, have

the highest hospitalization and emergency department visit rates. Among children, males appear to

be more severely impacted by asthma, but after puberty, females appear to be disproportionately

affected by asthma as revel ected in higher asthma prevalence, emergency department visits, inpatient

hospitalizations and mortality rates.

Certain counties in the state carry a higher burden of asthma. Milwaukee County had both the

highest asthma hospitalization (2000-2002) and asthma hospital emergency department visit rates