Chattanooga residents are less likely than average to suffer from asthma, but those who do are experiencing some of the nation’s highest rates of hospitalizations and deaths, according to a recent study.
The study, published by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, looked at the 100 most populous metropolitan areas in the country for the prevalence of asthma, ranking cities on how often the disease leads to hospitalization and how often it turns fatal. Chattanooga ranked fourth of all cities surveyed for the number of emergency room visits and ninth for the number of deaths due to asthma.
Of the 100 cities surveyed, Chattanooga ranked 28th worst overall. Allentown, Pennsylvania — immortalized by the 1982 Billy Joel song as a once-thriving steel-manufacturing hub — ranked as the worst city in terms of the frequency and severity of asthma among its residents.
“Chattanooga’s rise up the Asthma Capitals list is due in part to slightly higher prevalence rates and higher rates of (emergency room) visits compared to the previous year,” said Hannah Jaffee, research director at the asthma foundation, by email. “In fact, Chattanooga is one of the only cities we analyzed in the report that saw an increase in asthma-related ED visits year-over-year. Most other cities saw decreases, so it’s certainly a concerning swing for the area.”
What’s unclear is exactly why Chattanooga’s asthma sufferers have such poor outcomes when compared to other cities nationwide, especially since Chattanooga has a lower than average number of asthma cases per capita, Jaffee said.