Asthma Surveillance

Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs causing repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma prevalence is increasing in the United States and is one of the most common long-term diseases of children.

We still don’t know what causes this disease or how to cure it, but asthma can be well controlled (resulting in a reduction in symptoms) by following a medical management plan and by avoiding contact with environmental “triggers,” such as cockroaches, dust mites, furry pets, mold, tobacco smoke, and certain chemicals.

The Vermont Asthma Program

The Vermont Asthma Program is currently funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create an asthma prevention program and surveillance system in Vermont.  Surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of asthma-related data for use in planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice. Asthma surveillance data will help direct and inform Asthma Program activities as well as provide information to the public about asthma in their communities. 

We have identified data sources and indicators to monitor asthma trends throughout Vermont.  Indicators help us to understand how asthma affects Vermonters of all ages, including prevalence, morbidity (symptom frequency, impact of asthma on quality of life, and comorbidities), risk factors, self and clinical management of asthma, indicators of poor management of asthma (urgent care and ER visits, hospitalizations, and deaths), and costs. A variety of data sources including surveys, population-based datasets, and school reports, assist us in learning more about these indicators. 

The Department of Health would also like to thank its partners, who have made valuable contributions to statewide asthma surveillance, including the Department of Education, the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program, and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

Asthma Prevalence in 2002 PCPlus Program: A Comparison of CSTE & NCQA Classification Systems:
A report comparing the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) classification systems in estimating asthma prevalence in the Office of Vermont Health Access Primary Care Case Management (PCPlus) program for the 2002 calendar year, and associated demographics and utilization patterns.

Asthma Prevalence in PC Plus Using a Hybrid Classification System 2003-2004:
Building off of the 2002 report, this report continues to examine trends in asthma prevalence, demographics, comorbidities, utilization and associated "costs" among the Vermont Medicaid PC Plus beneficiaries. The report also examines geographic variations in prevalence and hospital utilization patterns.

For more information about the Vermont Asthma Surveillance System, please contact:

Alison Howe, MS
Vermont Department of Health
108 Cherry Street
Burlington, VT 05402
802-951-1255