Variability in childhood allergy and asthma across ethnicity, language, and residency duration in El Paso, Texas: a cross-sectional study

Allergy and asthma prevalence was surveyed among 9797 fourth and fifth grade children enrolled in the El Paso Independent School District. Parents completed a respiratory health questionnaire, in either English or Spanish, and a sub-sample of children received spirometry testing at their school. Here we report asthma and allergy outcomes across ethnicity and El Paso residency duration.Asthma and allergy prevalence increased with longer duration of El Paso residency independent of ethnicity and preferred language. Compared with immigrants who arrived in El Paso after entering first grade (18%), lifelong El Paso residents (68%) had more prevalent allergy (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.32 - 2.24), prevalent asthma (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.24 - 2.46), and current asthma (OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.37 - 2.95). Spirometric measurements (FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75) also declined with increasing duration of El Paso residency (0.16% and 0.35% annual reduction, respectively).These findings suggest that a community-wide environmental exposure in El Paso, delayed pulmonary development, or increased health of immigrants may be associated with allergy and asthma development in children raised there.Asthma is the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease in childhood [1-3]. The prevalence of allergy and asthma related outcomes have been shown to vary across race and ethnicity, with Hispanics having the lowest prevalence of asthma in the United States (U.S.) [4-7]. However, Hispanic ethnicity includes numerous subgroups that differ by country of origin, language preference, duration of residence in the U.S., and asthma prevalence [8,9]. Of particular interest are the populations living in the four U.S. states bordering Mexico[10,11], which comprise 56% of the total Hispanic and 72% of the Mexican American population in the United States[12] which has the lowest prevalence of asthma of all U.S. Hispanic subgroups [13]. This population includes monolingual English and Spanish speakers, bilingual individuals, an