Roy Grant ^1*, Shawn Bowen ², Diane E. McLean ³, Douglas Berman ⁴, Karen Redlener ¹, Irwin Redlener ⁵

¹ The Children's Health Fund
² Children's Hospital at Montefiore
³ New York State Psychiatric Institute
⁴ Care for the Homeless
⁵ Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rgrant{at}chfund.org.

	Abstract

Homeless children in New York City had an extremely high asthma prevalence--40%--in a cross-sectional study at 3 shelters (n=740) during 1998 to 1999. We used the same protocol to summarize subsequent data through December 2002. Asthma prevalence was 33% (n=1636); only 15% of the children previously diagnosed were taking an asthma controller medication. Emergency department use was 59%. These data were used to support a class action lawsuit that produced positive outcomes for homeless children with asthma in New York City.

Key Words: Access to Care, Quality of Care, Homelessness, Asthma, Surveillance, Urban Health