Patterns and drivers of disparities in pediatric asthma outcomes among Medicaid-enrolled children living in subsidized housing in NYC

Objective: There are persistent disparities in pediatric asthma morbidity in the U.S. We linked claims data with information on neighborhood-level risk factors to explore drivers of asthma disparities among Medicaid-enrolled children in New York City subsidized housing. Methods: We constructed a cohort of Medicaid-enrolled children living in public or other subsidized housing, based on residential address, in NYC between 2016 and 2019 (n = 108,969). We examined claims-derived asthma prevalence across age and racial and ethnic groups, integrating census tract-level information and using the Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) algorithm to address high rates of missing data in self-reported race and ethnicity. We used inverse probability weighting (IPW) to explore the extent to which disparities persisted when exposure to asthma risk factors – related to the built environment, neighborhood poverty, and air quality – were balanced across groups. This analysis was conducted in 2022–2023. Results: Claims-derived asthma prevalence was highest among children <7 years at baseline and among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children. For example, among children aged 3–6 years at baseline, claims-derived prevalence was 17.3% and 18.1% among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children, respectively, compared to 9.3% and 9.0% among non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Asian American/Pacific Islander children. Using IPW to balance exposure to asthma risk factors across racial and ethnic groups attenuated, but did not eliminate, disparities in asthma prevalence. Conclusions: We found high asthma burden among children living in subsidized housing. Modifiable place-based characteristics may be important contributors to pediatric asthma disparities.