Timeframe:  2005 to 2009

In 2005, IAI collaborated with the state of California to conduct a school-based respiratory health survey in Imperial County, California.  Imperial County has the highest rate of childhood asthma hospital admissions in California, with nearly three times the hospital admissions of other counties.  The purpose of the Border Asthma and Allergies Study (BASTA) was to identify asthma rates in young teenagers, and to examine family and environmental factors that might be related to asthma. Over 3,000 7th and 8th grade students from 10 schools completed the survey. Approximately one in five students reported having been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, with one in eight said that they had symptoms of asthma during the past year.  IAI found that children in Imperial County were more likely to develop asthma at some point in their lives than children in other parts of California; they also had higher rates of asthma than children from a national data group.