Andrew F. Beck of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and coauthors conducted a review of nearly 4,500 children who visited the emergency department (ED) or were hospitalized for asthma at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center over a four-year period.

Census tract density of housing code violations was significantly associated with population-level rates of children's asthma-related ED visits and hospitalizations, independent of poverty. Of the approximately 1,500 children hospitalized for asthma during the study period, nearly 75 percent resided in census-defined "poverty areas."

Despite this socioeconomic homogeneity, those living in census tracts with a high density of housing code violations were significantly more likely to return to the ED or hospital within one year. The authors conclude that "geomarker"-based data such as this could help target interventions to improve health care delivery and overall health in at-risk communities.

Research: Housing Code Violation Density Associated With Emergency Department And Hospital Use By Children With Asthma, Andrew F. Beck, Bin Huang, Raj Chundur and Robert S. Kahn, Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0496, published November 2014.