Asthma Prevalence: Socio-Economic Factors & Smoking in Youths

This literature review investigates the correlation between socio-economic status, living habits, and the prevalence of asthma among Australian youth, with a particular focus on indigenous populations. The review analyzes various studies highlighting the increased asthma rates among young smoke...Read More

Contents
Executive summary..................................................................................................................2
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
Research Question....................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of Research............................................................................................................3
Research Topic.........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.....................................................................................................................5
Recommendation for Future Research..................................................................................8
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................8
References...............................................................................................................................10

Executive summary
Prevalence of asthma has become a common concern for the people from all over the
world. Smoking is considered as one of the root causes of asthma and among the youth
population asthma is increasing at an alarming rate. Indigenous Australian youths are more
likely to suffer in this regard. The following paper formed a research question to analyze the
prevalence of asthma among indigenous youths due to smoking. It reviewed several
literatures in order to find the answer. The result produced the fact that living habit changes
as per the socio-economic status which affects the health also and as a consequence creates
asthma among youths. Finally, the paper concluded with the recommendation on how further
research can be made to find the strategies to improve the health outcome.

Introduction
Asthma is one of the common chronic health conditions which is affecting the
respiratory system of the people from all over the world (Beasley, Semprini & Mitchell,
2015). Prevalence of asthma has been increased among Australian teenagers, including
smoking as well as non-smoking population. It is assumed that smokers are more likely to
suffer due to their unhealthy living habits and lifestyle. Considering this fact, the main
research question can be formed. The following paper will provide a clear discussion about
the chronic respiratory health condition with a thorough literature review along with the
review of a primary research article. It will also conclude with the recommendation of further
research strategy in this regard.
Research Question
How socio-economic status and living habits are associated with the prevalence of
asthma among Australian young population?
Evaluation of Research
In the article, the author stated that respiratory health of the teenagers is decreasing
due to asthma and the condition of indigenous youths is poorer than non-indigenous
counterpart. The author indicated improper lifestyle such as intake of excessive tobacco and
smoking is creating such health problems among Australian indigenous populations. The
study found that prevalence of asthma is 17.5% in the indigenous population and it is 10.1%
for non-indigenous population. The research also found that in Australia, two-third of
indigenous smokers before turning to the age of 18 began smoking regularly. Asthma attack
is comparatively found more among the smoker community. In this regard, the article shows
a feasibility study which was organized by the authors in two schools where the number of

indigenous students were high. All the participants were in the age group between 12 to 17
years. Result from the questionnaires showed 20% of the participants are suffering from
asthma among them 10% were previous smokers and 8% students were the first time
smokers. However, the result revealed that 63% of them had high exposure to tobacco
smoking at home. Previous study also disclosed that the 95.2% of children, who were
hospitalized due to asthma, were from indigenous population group. The study was focused
to improve the respiratory symptoms in this age group and they suggested building up a
smoking free community among them. Therefore, this article established the fact that
smoking is one of the leading causes of asthma and indigenous teenagers are the worst
sufferer of it (McCallum et al., 2017).
Research Topic
The main research topic was how socio-economic status and living habits are
associated with the prevalence of asthma among the Australian teenagers. One of the biggest
causes of asthma is smoking and studies revealed that prevalence of asthma among the
smokers is comparatively high than the non-smokers. Most of the smokers begin to smoke
during their teenage and it leads to the chronic disease. Asthma has become one of the serious
health concerns in Australia (Black, Tesfaigzi, Bassein & Miller, 2017). There is no
particular cure strategy for asthma however, effective management techniques are available
in order to control the disease. The recent analysis of LSAC, the data indicated that 24.4% of
children report wheezing related to asthma (Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring, 2011).
The researchers also found that the prevalence of asthma among the Australian population is
continuously increasing as the intake of tobacco is also increasing among the youth
population and most of them are from indigenous community. Being one of the root causes of
asthma, smoking affects the respiratory system of the population (Vonk et al., 2017). Among

the indigenous teenagers, living habits and lifestyle becomes a burden of improved health. In
order to improve the health outcome of the youth population all over the Australia and
especially among the indigenous, exclusion of tobacco smoking from their lives can be
helpful (Chamberlain et al., 2017). In order to control the respiratory health disorder
elimination of tobacco smoking plays the one of the major roles. In this way, the paper and
the research topic is related to the improved health outcomes for people with chronic health
conditions such as asthma.
Literature Review
Elton-Marshall, T., Wijesingha, R., Kennedy, R. D., & Hammond, D. (2018).
Disparities in knowledge about the health effects of smoking among adolescents
following the release of new pictorial health warning labels. Preventive medicine, 111,
358-365.
In the article, the author provided a clear idea about the effects of smoking on chronic
health conditions such as asthma. The author revealed that almost 12% of youths who were
aged from 15 to 17 especially from the lower-income groups were smokers. 7% youths
belonged to the higher income families. Thus, he stated that economic status has a huge
impact on the smoking of the youths. The article also produced the fact that many of the
smokers were not clearly aware of the particular health outcomes of smoking. Studies
reported that smokers knew that smoking causes lung cancer but they had no idea that
smoking can be a leading cause of asthma. The author organized study and collected data.
From the analysis of the result it was found that most of the smokers have less knowledge
about the after effects of smoking and they have very little idea about the occurrence of
asthma as a consequence of smoking. However, in the paper the author reflected socio-
economic status affects the tobacco smoking among the youths. Especially Hispanic

adolescents are less aware of the health effects of smoking (Elton-Marshall, Wijesingha,
Kennedy & Hammond, 2018).
Stevenson, L., Campbell, S., Gould, G. S., Robertson, J., & Clough, A. R. (2017).
Establishing smoke-free homes in the Indigenous populations of Australia, New
Zealand, Canada and the United States: A systematic literature review. International
journal of environmental research and public health, 14(11), 1382.
In the article the author considered tobacco as one of the most pollutant indoor
ingredient that causes health issues including asthma. The study also revealed that 20%
indigenous Australian children have at least one parent who smokes in the home. When
compared to non-indigenous, the amount is 7% only which is comparatively low. People
from aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia are more likely to be daily smokers
compared to the people living in the non remote areas. The author recognized smoke-free
homes as an effective strategy to protect non-smokers as well as children. The paper
illustrated a study that organized to campaign for a smoke-free community and indigenous
people gave encouraging account of personal experiences in reducing the smoking behaviour.
The paper also stated that due to the smoking of adults, the intake of tobacco among the
youth population of indigenous also increases. However, the paper successfully reviewed
literatures and identified barriers of better health outcome. It also provided strategies to
produce a smoke-free home in order to reduce the affect of asthma among people (Stevenson,
Campbell, Gould, Robertson & Clough, 2017).
Azzopardi, P. S., Sawyer, S. M., Carlin, J. B., Degenhardt, L., Brown, N., Brown,
A. D., & Patton, G. C. (2018). Health and wellbeing of Indigenous adolescents in
Australia: a systematic synthesis of population data. The Lancet, 391(10122), 766-782.

In this article, author stated that prevalence of chronic disease and mortality rate is
higher among the indigenous when compared to non-indigenous population. In order to find
the health and well-being among the indigenous adolescents of Australia, the author collected
systematic synthesis data. The data was collected through various surveys among the target
audience. The result of the study produced the fact that 43% of 15-24 years of youth
population are addicted to tobacco smoking and which creates various health issues including
asthma as a consequence. Among the indigenous Australians, who lives in the remote areas
always suffer from asthma and other respiratory disorders and most of them are chained
smokers who began smoking at a very early age. However, the paper also found that people
living in the non-remote areas are less likely to suffer from such chronic diseases. Finally, the
author concluded that supporting the adolescents in increasing their knowledge and educating
them about the negative outcomes of smoking is necessary to reduce the asthma attack among
the youth population. Proper health literacy is also necessary in this regard (Azzopardi et al.,
2018).
Gould, G. S., Watt, K., West, R., Cadet-James, Y., & Clough, A. R. (2016). Can
smoking initiation contexts predict how adult Aboriginal smokers assess their smoking
risks? A cross-sectional study using the ‘Smoking Risk Assessment Target’. BMJ
open, 6(7), e010722.
In this article, the author stated that prevalence of smoking is reducing among
indigenous Australians but in a slower rate than non-indigenous living in the non-remote
areas. The author produced the result that intake of tobacco is more likely to be among the
youth populations and in the Hispanic region, even school children begin smoking on a
regular basis. Even, study in New South Wales produced result that girls were more
influenced by the peer pressure to start smoking when compared to boys. Due to this
pressure, girls begin smoking and become a chain smoker which affects their health and

causes respiratory issues. However, the article clearly produced the fact that influence is the
main reason of initiating the smoking and most of the indigenous smokers initiate it before
the age f 16 years. Irrespective of the gender, the smoking affects the health and causes
serious health issues among the population. However, 30% aboriginals also wanted to quit
smoking in order to live a better and improved life (Gould, Watt, West, Cadet-James &
Clough, 2016).
Many other researches also produced the result that smoking prevalence among the
indigenous Australians is more than double when compared to non-indigenous population of
Australia (Robertson, Stevenson, Usher, Devine & Clough, 2015). Study reported that
substance misuse among the indigenous population causing health hazards (Graham,
Campbell, West & Clough, 2017).
Recommendation for Future Research
The literature research was sufficient to provide the answer of main research question
and it clearly depicted that socio-economic status is associated with smoking. The use of
tobacco smoking is high among the indigenous populations and most of them are teenagers.
Prevalence of asthma among the youth population, especially among the indigenous people
living in the remote areas is comparatively higher than the people living in the non-remote
areas. However, further research is required to find how they can be influenced to leave their
smoking habits and how campaigns can be organized to increase the health literacy about the
intake of tobacco. In this way, people will understand and gain knowledge about the negative
health outcome of it. This will also help in reducing the prevalence of asthma among the
youth population of Australia. Including women in the research is also necessary to find a
more detailed result. Educating the youths is the most important recommendation which can
be carried forward through further analysis.

Conclusion
The paper was focussed to find the answer of the research question. A primary
research article has been chosen in this regard. Through a detailed literature review with other
articles, the result has been found which clearly produced the result of the research question.
However, further study is recommended to find how prevalence of smoking can be reduced
among youth populations of indigenous Australians in order to reduce the affects of asthma
and other chronic health issues.

References
Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring. (2011). Asthma in Australia 2011: with a focus
chapter on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare.
Azzopardi, P. S., Sawyer, S. M., Carlin, J. B., Degenhardt, L., Brown, N., Brown, A. D., &
Patton, G. C. (2018). Health and wellbeing of Indigenous adolescents in Australia: a
systematic synthesis of population data. The Lancet, 391(10122), 766-782.
Beasley, R., Semprini, A., & Mitchell, E. A. (2015). Risk factors for asthma: is prevention
possible?. The Lancet, 386(9998), 1075-1085.
Black, C., Tesfaigzi, Y., Bassein, J. A., & Miller, L. A. (2017). Wildfire smoke exposure and
human health: Significant gaps in research for a growing public health
issue. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology, 55, 186-195.
Chamberlain, C., Perlen, S., Brennan, S., Rychetnik, L., Thomas, D., Maddox, R., ... &
Eades, S. (2017). Evidence for a comprehensive approach to Aboriginal tobacco
control to maintain the decline in smoking: an overview of reviews among Indigenous
peoples. Systematic reviews, 6(1), 135.
Elton-Marshall, T., Wijesingha, R., Kennedy, R. D., & Hammond, D. (2018). Disparities in
knowledge about the health effects of smoking among adolescents following the
release of new pictorial health warning labels. Preventive medicine, 111, 358-365.
Gould, G. S., Watt, K., West, R., Cadet-James, Y., & Clough, A. R. (2016). Can smoking
initiation contexts predict how adult Aboriginal smokers assess their smoking risks?

A cross-sectional study using the ‘Smoking Risk Assessment Target’. BMJ
open, 6(7), e010722.
Graham, V. E., Campbell, S., West, C., & Clough, A. R. (2017). Substance misuse
intervention research in remote Indigenous Australian communities since the
NHMRC ‘Roadmap’. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 41(4),
424-431.
McCallum, G. B., Chang, A. B., Wilson, C. A., Petsky, H. L., Saunders, J., Pizzutto, S. J., ...
& Shah, S. (2017). Feasibility of a peer-led asthma and smoking prevention project in
Australian schools with high indigenous youth. Frontiers in pediatrics, 5, 33.
Robertson, J., Stevenson, L., Usher, K., Devine, S., & Clough, A. (2015). A review of trends
in Indigenous Australian tobacco research (from 2004 to 2013), its associated outputs
and evidence of research translation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17(8), 1039-
1048.
Stevenson, L., Campbell, S., Gould, G. S., Robertson, J., & Clough, A. R. (2017).
Establishing smoke-free homes in the Indigenous populations of Australia, New
Zealand, Canada and the United States: A systematic literature review. International
journal of environmental research and public health, 14(11), 1382.
Vonk, J. M., Scholtens, S., Postma, D. S., Moffatt, M. F., Jarvis, D., Ramasamy, A., ... &
Nadif, R. (2017). Adult onset asthma and interaction between genes and active
tobacco smoking: The GABRIEL consortium. PloS one, 12(3), e0172716.