Table 1

Weighted prevalence of frequent symptoms or emergency department visits/hospitalisations by demographic characteristics among 2001 California Health Interview Survey respondents with reported asthma diagnoses, San Joaquin Valley, California

	Daily/weekly symptoms*		Emergency department visits/hospitalisation
	No	Prevalence (%)†	No	Prevalence (%)†
All respondents with asthma	1487	25.7	1502	9.2
Age
1–17	487	16.3	493	17.3
18–34	250	19.4	251	5.9
35–64	574	29.5	578	9.0
65+	176	38.8	180	5.4
Gender
Male	578	21.5	582	12.1
Female	909	24.4	920	10.2
Race/ethnicity
Latino	308	23.6	310	17.9
Asian/others	133	18.0	134	10.3
African–American	96	23.7	97	11.5
White	950	23.4	961	8.3
Household federal poverty level‡
<100%	271	24.3	272	11.9
100–299%	667	22.4	675	12.7
300%+	549	23.3	555	8.4
Insurance status
Currently uninsured	133	27.4	135	6.9
Uninsured anytime past 12 months	73	21.9	74	17.6
Insured all past 12 months	1281	22.6	1293	11.0
Delay in care for asthma§
Yes	115	54.8	115	28.2
No	1357	20.2	1371	9.8
Current smoking¶
Currently smoking	206	35.1	207	6.7
Quit smoking	294	29.1	297	10.1
Never smoked	500	22.2	504	6.4
Employment¶
Employed	574	19.8	577	5.1
Unemployed	415	38.4	421	10.9

↵* Participants were asked in a single question to report the frequency of asthma symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and phlegm production.
↵† Percentages are weighted to take unequal probabilities of selection into the California Health Interview Survey sample into account.
↵‡ Percentages were defined using the 2001 federal poverty guidelines ($9044 for one person, $11 559 for a family of two; incomes at 300%+ FPL federal poverty level were three times these amounts).
↵§ Individuals who reported delaying or foregoing any medical care they felt they needed (such as seeing a doctor, a specialist, or other health professional) for asthma were assigned a value of 1 for one ‘delay in care for asthma’.
↵¶ Measured in respondents ages 18+.