Consecutive Missed School Days in Relationship with Asthma Status and Environmental Air Quality: Findings from a School based Asthma Initiative

Objectives: Compare the rate of sets of consecutive missed school days between children with and without asthma. Determine the relationship between exposure to poor environmental air quality measures and missed school days. Methodology: Data containing the number of school days missed, actual absence dates (N = 14936), and demographics were collected from students (N = 1628) in an elementary and middle school in Fort Worth, Texas. Counts of sets of consecutive missed school days were modeled using negative binomial regression. Partial correlation analysis is being used to identify the relationship between exposure to poor ambient air quality and missed school days. All analyses are conducted using SAS 9.3. Results: For both types of sets of missed days analyzed, children with asthma have adjusted rate ratios of 1.26 (p-value = .050) and 1.24 (p-value = .098) for sets of consecutive missed school days. We hypothesize a positive correlation between absences and poor ambient air quality, with a lag period of 2 days, although we will also evaluate lags of 0, 1, and 3 days. Conclusion: Policies are needed to reduce the impact of asthma on children’s school experience, such as measures to strengthen school asthma services and reduce exposures to environmental triggers.