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To understand what asthma looks
like in Alameda County, it is important to look at a range
of asthma indicators (both individually and in comparison to
each other).
This information can be used for a various public health
actions, including targeting resources, planning
interventions, evaluating programs, and developing policies.
We created tables showing rates and ranks for the four asthma indicators by
city and ZIP code. This information is useful for
making comparisons and for comparing to other information
that is categorized by city or ZIP codes. We also created a smoothed surface
maps for the four asthma indicators in Alameda County for 2001.
This map is useful for looking at rates at the neighborhood
level. To
learn more about how we made these maps, go to Data and
Methods Overview.
Reading the map
- A smoothed-surface map is like a
contour map of rates. Instead of showing the asthma outcome rates by
geographic unit (such as a ZIP code), it shows a continuous surface.
This gives a more realistic representation of what asthma looks like in the
county, while preserving the
confidentiality of the individuals whose records we used to
create the map.
- The orange circles on the map show locations where
the elevation in rate was statistically significant in comparison to the
county rate. This means that the difference between the rates of these
locations and the countywide rate is not
due to random chance.
- Because these maps are showing rates, population
density is accounted for. In other words, an area does not appear
"high" just because there are more people living there. The rates are
mapped based on the individual's address.
Below are maps showing rates for the four asthma indicators
in Alameda County in 2001. The data used to create the
map came from Kaiser Permanente of Northern California and
Medi-Cal fee-for-service population. Please note that
these maps represent a sample, not the entire population of
Alameda County.
ASTHMA EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS (CHILDREN, AGE 0-17)
Asthma ER visit rates among children (aged 0-17) varied across Alameda County. Indicated by the orange circles,
areas with significantly elevated ER visit rates existed in the northwest part of the county, concentrated around the
Interstate 980 / 580 / 880 interchange. In the southern part of the county,
asthma ER visit rates were not significantly high aside from
one spot in Fremont.
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 1.
ASTHMA OUTPATIENT VISITS (CHILDREN, AGE 0-17)
Unlike the distribution of asthma ER visits, outpatient
visit rates were significantly elevated in many parts of
southern Alameda County. Other areas with significantly elevated rates
exist in the Oakland and San Leandro areas.
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 2.
SYMPTOM MEDICATION PURCHASES (CHILDREN, AGE 0-17)
High rates of symptom medication purchases are found throughout the county, but mainly in the southern portion. A few areas that have
statistically significant elevated rates exist in the Oakland and San Leandro
areas.
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 3.
ASTHMA MAINTENANCE MEDICATION PURCHASES (CHILDREN, AGE 0-17)
Similar to the distribution of outpatient visit rates, high
rates of maintenance medication purchase are concentrated in the southern part of Alameda County
(Newark and Fremont). Other significantly elevated
rates exist in the eastern part of the county in the Pleasanton and Livermore areas.
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 4.
Comparing maps indicates that ER visit rates were higher in
some portions of northern Alameda County, while symptom and
maintenance medication purchases were higher in southern
Alameda County. This indicates disparities in the
severity of asthma experienced in different parts of Alameda County, as well as
disparities in quality of health care and/or ability to
purchase medications. Note that we didn't have data on
number of prescriptions overall, just prescriptions that
were filled (purchased).
 You can also
look at these maps on InfoAlamedaCounty's online interactive
web mapping tool at
www.InfoAlamedaCounty.org. This interactive
interface allows the user to see the pilot project results
and map other information on the county, including demographics,
housing, and labor. It also allows the user
to zoom in to specific locations and to examine the
information by city, zip code, and census tract.
Asthma by city and ZIP code
We have also calculated rates for the asthma indicators for
each city and ZIP code within Alameda County. These
are displayed in table format as both rates and rankings.
Because we calculated our rates using a sample of residents
within Alameda County, we cannot say that these rates are
the true rates for the entire population. However, we
can use these rates to make comparisons within Alameda
County by ranking cities and ZIP codes based on these rates.
Ranks can be useful for determining how one area compares
with another.
About Rates and Ranks
Rates: Rates are calculated for each of the asthma
indicators by taking the number of outcomes for each indicator in each age group and dividing
by the total number of eligible people in that age group in the Kaiser Permanente or Northern California
and Medi-Cal fee-for-service population in Alameda County in 2001. Rates are calculated for
each indicator by city and ZIP code, when there are appropriate numbers of outcomes (5 or more).
Ranks:
Each city and ZIP code are then ranked according to their rate, in order to more easily identify which cities or
ZIP codes have the highest rates for each of the asthma indicators. The ranks are in ascending order.
Therefore, a city with a ranking of 1 implies that that city had the highest rate of all cities in Alameda County for that asthma indicator.
Click below to download tables in PDF.
Children (age 0-17)
Alameda ZIP codes ranked
by rates of asthma indicators
Alameda cities ranked by
rates of asthma indicators
Alameda ZIP codes asthma rates
Asthma cities asthma
rates
Adults (age 18-44)
Alameda ZIP codes ranked
by rates of asthma indicators
Alameda cities ranked by
rates of asthma indicators
Alameda ZIP codes asthma
rates
Asthma cities asthma
rates
Adults (age 46-65)
Alameda ZIP codes ranked
by rates of asthma indicators
Alameda cities ranked by
rates of asthma indicators
Alameda ZIP codes asthma
rates
Asthma cities asthma
rates
Go to:
Asthma disparities
Asthma maps
and tables
Mapping the cost of asthma
FAQs on
asthma and results
Return to
the asthma findings page
Pilot Project
Findings | Overview of Pilot Project Data and Methods |
Glossary of Scientific and Statistical Terms |
Additional Resources
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