Environmental and socioeconomic risk factors in asthma

It seems clear that a multiplicity of environmental and socioeconomic factors is implicated in the increased prevalence and severity of asthma among an urban minority population versus their more affluent - and largely white - counterparts. There are shortcomings in treatment and prevention that need urgent correction, but the situation is made more difficult by interconnecting risk factors that require complicated and frequently costly interventions. In an era of dwindling health care dollars, finding funds is problematic. Some interventions are beyond the scope of the medical community. Reducing air pollution, for example, requires government action; however, the medical community does bear responsibility for implementing asthma practice guidelines, providing aggressive treatment and comprehensive patient education, and ensuring that all patients are provided with a written treatment plan that includes emergency medication.