Asthma and American Indians/Alaska Natives

• In 2018, 278,000 American Indian/Native American adults reported that they currently have asthma.1
• From 2019 to 2021, American Indian/Alaska Native children were almost twice as likely to currently have asthma than non-Hispanic white children.1
• In 2023, American Indian/Alaska Native adults were 10% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic white adults.2

Prevalence

Current asthma among adults age 18 and over, percentage, 2023
American Indian or Alaska Native only	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian or Alaska Native only / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.8	9.2	1.1

Adults age 18 and over who have ever been told they have asthma, percentage, 2018
American Indian or Alaska Native only	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian or Alaska Native only / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
14.9	14.2	1.0

Adults age 18 and over who currently have asthma, age-adjusted percentage, 2004–2008
Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
14.2	11.6	1.2

Death Rate

Asthma mortality among adults age 18 and over, rate per million, 2016–2018
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
14.5	12.1	1.2

Treatment

Prevalence of emergency department/urgent care visits with asthma as the first listed diagnosis in the past 12 months among all ages with current asthma, percentage, 2016–2018
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.1	8.6	0.9

Hospital admissions for asthma among adults ages 18–39, rate per 100,000 population, 2020
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
--	15.4	--

People with current asthma who are now taking preventive medicine daily or almost daily, percentage, 2020
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
--	33.8	--

Children

Current asthma among children under 18 years of age, percentage, 2019–2021
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.2	5.5	1.7

Children under 18 years of age who were ever told they had asthma, age-adjusted percentage, 2018
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
17.8	9.4	1.9

Children under 18 years of age who still have asthma, age-adjusted percentage, 2016
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
16.1	7.0	2.3

Hospital admissions for asthma among children ages 2–17, rate per 100,000 population, 2020
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
--	16.6	--

Asthma mortality among children ages 0–17, rate per million, 2021
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
--	1.0	--

Asthma prevalence among children ages 0–17, percentage, 2004–2005
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.9	8.0	1.2

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1 CDC, 2022. Data, Statistics, and Surveillance. Most Recent National Asthma Data. (Back to top)

2 CDC. National Center for Health Statistics. Interactive Summary Health Statistics for Adults. Percentage of current asthma for adults aged 18 and over, United States, 2023. (Back to top)