Asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung disease caused by genetic and environmental factors. Characterized by inflammation and narrowing of the airway, asthma can lead to shortness of breath, wheezing, tight feeling in the chest, coughing often and even death. Common asthma triggers include tobacco smoke, dust mites, allergies, cockroaches, weather changes, exercise or active playing, infections and strong odors and fumes. Nine percent (about 104,500) of children in the eight-county service area currently have asthma.¹

Community insights

Uncontrolled asthma can lead to increased emergency department visits and hospitalizations.²Of the children who currently have asthma in the eight-county service area– Collin, Denton, Grayson, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties, approximately 4 in 7 (about 59,600) children had an episode of asthma or asthma attack in the past year and nearly 1 in 4 (about 25,700) children have been to the emergency room because of asthma symptoms.¹Between 2021 and 2023, Cook Children's Medical Centers in Fort Worth and Prosper recorded 7,798 emergency department visits for asthma, treated 5,629 children, and 2,637 children were hospitalized for asthma symptoms.³ Managing a child’s asthma symptoms requires education and collaboration across a child’s social network.

For the most part, my kids are healthy, but my youngest one has asthma. Sometimes the way he breathes scares me, and I stay up at night to watch him.

Family/caregiver interview

Our focus areas and key efforts

Healthy Homes

Provides education and resources to children with high-risk asthma
Provides enviroment assessments to remove asthma triggers

Healthy Homes information

Asthma 411

Equips school nurses with the necessary training and resources needed to quickly respond to a child in respiratory distress
Enhances school asthma services
Supports prevention-oriented care

Asthma 411 information

Contact us about our program

For questions or information on our asthma programming, please email courtney.barnard@cookchildrens.org

Access free resources

The Center for Community Health is committed to providing free education and access to our data.

Resources Access our data Partner with us

References

¹Community Health Needs Assessment Report. (2024). Cook Children’s Health Care System. Fort Worth, Texas; or CookChildren’s CHNA 2024 at www.cookchildrens.org/chna (accessed September 2025). https://www.cookchildrenscommunity.org/data

²Gill I, Shah A, Lee EK, et al. Community Interventions for Childhood Asthma ED Visits and Hospitalizations: A
Systematic Review. Pediatrics. 2022;150(4):e2021054825. doi:10.1542/peds.2021-054825

³Cook Children’s Health Care System, Health Care Analytics. 2024. Accessed September 2024.