Genes may raise asthma risk for blacks - US study

CHICAGO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Blacks in the United States are more likely than whites to need urgent care for asthma, for reasons that may be genetic, researchers reported on Monday.

The report from the University of California, San Francisco, covered 678 patients who had hospital treatment for asthma between 2000 and 2004 and were checked over a follow-up period to see if they needed emergency room treatment or readmission to hospital.

More than 35 percent of the blacks sought emergency room help later on, compared with 21 percent of whites, the study found, and more than 26 percent of blacks -- compared with just over 15 percent of whites -- wound up back in the hospital.

The authors, writing in this month's Archives of Internal Medicine, said previous studies tracked the racial disparity among asthma patients but found significant differences in therapy, including less use among blacks of inhaled steroids used for long-term asthma control.

But the new research found that therapy could not explain the different outcomes for blacks and whites, nor could socioeconomic status or the severity of the asthma to begin with.

"These findings suggest that genetic differences may underlie these racial disparities," the study concluded.

"Further investigation of genetic differences and gene-environment interactions in black populations is needed to better understand the reasons."

((Writing by Michael Conlon; editing by Andrew Stern and John O'Callaghan; Reuters Messaging: mike.conlon.reuters.com@reuters.net; tel: +1-312-408-8730)) Keywords: BLACKS ASTHMA/

(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nN24292364