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The Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute and Dr. Tamara Perry are studying the impact of asthma on children under the age of 18.

What Perry and her team are doing is taking a hard look at the interaction between asthma and children in low income and minority populations who have not been diagnosed or are inadequately treated due to decreased access to healthcare.

The study will take place in the Delta region of Arkansas.

The three-year project is funded by a $300,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its Physician Faculty Scholars Program.

"Our goals are to learn more about asthma in rural environments and discover ways to improve medical therapies that are unique to this population," Perry said. "There are huge disparities in health outcomes and healthcare services among minority asthmatics, particularly those living in low income regions. We hope this study will yield information that will aid in the design of interventions targeting rural children with asthma."

Researchers will identify 120 children in Marvel and Eudora and in the surrounding school districts who have been diagnosed with asthma. Researchers will look for participants that have been diagnosed with atopic (allergic) asthma or nonallergic asthma. An environmental assessment of each patient's home will be performed twice a year, and data regarding exposure to pets, environmental tobacco smoke, farm animals and other potential environmental factors in the area will be recorded.

"With this study and future studies, we will plan to conduct genetic testing to examine for differences in genes that potentially make these children more susceptible to allergies or asthma," Perry said.

This is the first study among minority and rural children, and researchers hope it will illustrate the differences between rural asthma patients and those living in urban areas.

Perry was one of 15 junior faculty nationwide selected to receive a 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholars Program award. The program is intended to strengthen leadership among young faculty members and provide networking and mentoring opportunities.

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