Pets and smoking in the home associated with asthma symptoms and asthma-like breathing problems

Many Californians with asthma are exposed to environmental conditions in the home-such as the presence of tobacco smoke and furry pets-which can trigger asthma symptoms. In addition, many who have not been diagnosed with asthma experience asthma-like breathing problems when exposed to these same indoor conditions. Nearly 1.9 million California adults and 890,000 children have active asthma (7.3% of all adults and 10.4% of all children). Among those with active asthma, 970,000 adults and 300,000 children suffered from symptoms at least monthly in 2003. An additional 2.6 million California adults and 810,000 children who had not been diagnosed with asthma suffered from asthma-like symptoms such as wheezing in 2003 (11.1% of all adults and 9.3% of all children). A Publication of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Using results from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003), this policy brief examines the association of asthma symptoms and asthma-like breathing problems with smoking and the presence of tobacco smoke in the home, and with the presence of dogs and cats in the home. This brief presents the prevalence of monthly asthma symptoms among adults and children with active asthma and the prevalence of wheezing and other asthma-like symptoms in the previous year among those not diagnosed with asthma. Active asthma refers to being diagnosed with asthma and also reporting that one still has asthma and/or that one experienced an asthma attack in the past year. There are a number of known environmental triggers in the home, including environmental tobacco smoke, animal dander, dust mites, cockroaches, molds and pollens. This brief discusses those triggers for which CHIS 2003 collected useful data. Other triggers have also been found to significantly contribute to breathing problems.