U.S. asthma deaths increased for first time in two decades with highest risk to Black, Latino and Native American people

U.S. asthma deaths rose by more than 17 percent in 2020 – from 3,524 to 4,145 – marking the first increase in over two decades. Black, Latino, and Native American people continue to face the highest risk of asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and deaths, due to decades of housing discrimination, unequal access to care, exposure to air pollution, and other external factors.

Dr. Eboni Price-Haywood, Medical Director at Ochsner Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research, and Dr. Yvens Laborde, Medical Director of Global Health Education and Public Health at Ochsner Health, can discuss the role that systemic racism has played in perpetuating asthma disparities nationwide – an issue that will only worsen under the impacts of climate change.