Biomedical subjects

Karla Klein Murdock

Publications and source records attributed to Karla Klein Murdock.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Prevalence and correlates of early onset asthma and wheezing in a healthy birth cohort of 2- to 3-year olds.

OBJECTIVE: The combined contribution of neonatal, perinatal, and maternal health, demographic, environmental, and family psychosocial factors to early onset asthma and wheezing in a healthy birth cohort was examined. METHODS: Participants included 1,158 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse parents of 2- and 3-year olds who completed mailed questionnaires. RESULTS: Asthma and wheezing prevalence was 8.4 and 8.1%, respectively. Asthma during pregnancy, smoking in the home, and being male increased risk for asthma diagnosis and wheezing whereas social support minimized risk for both. Shorter gestational age, exposure to violence, and maternal anxiety increased risk for wheezing. The negative impact of smoking in the home was greatest for children with shorter gestational ages and mothers with asthma during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Findings confirm and extend previous work documenting demographic risks and highlight smoking, violent events, and social support in early onset asthma and wheezing. Findings illustrate the need for ecologically based interventions to treat asthma and wheezing in young children.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2005

Associations among risk factors, individual resources, and indices of school-related asthma morbidity in urban, school-aged children: a pilot study.

This paper presents a conceptual model including examples of risk and resource factors associated with indices of school-related asthma morbidity (eg, missed sleep, participation in activities, school absences) in a group of urban, school-aged children with asthma from ethnic minority backgrounds. Specifically, the current longitudinal study examines relations between a contextual risk factor (ie, family life stressors), an asthma-related risk factor (ie, asthma symptoms), individual resources (ie, attention, children's problem-solving beliefs, and self-esteem), and aspects of asthma morbidity that have been shown to have an impact on children's academic performance. Participants of the study included 31 mother-child dyads from low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for risk factors (ie, asthma symptoms and family life stressors) at baseline, children's individual characteristics (ie, children's problem-solving beliefs and self-esteem) functioned as resource factors for some indices of asthma-related functioning (school absences, participation in activities, and missed sleep) at follow-up (1 year later). Results suggest that contextual and individual risk and resource factors should be further explored in studies including larger samples of urban children with asthma in order to help guide the development of preventive interventions in school-based and health care settings.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Identifying risk and resource factors in children with asthma from urban settings: the context-health-development model.

This two-year longitudinal study examined concurrent and across-time associations between characteristics related to context, health, and development (i.e., neighborhood disadvantage, knowledge related to asthma management and asthma management behaviors, and self-competence) and children's asthma-related functioning. Thirty-one 8- to 12-year-old children with asthma and their primary caregivers were interviewed for the baseline of this study, and 29 of these dyads were interviewed for the 1-year follow-up. All participants resided in urban neighborhoods, and most were members of ethnic minority (African American and Hispanic) groups. Cross-sectional support was found for significant inverse relationships between neighborhood disadvantage and children's asthma knowledge. Lower levels of self-competence were consistently cross-sectionally associated with lower levels of asthma knowledge. A combination of higher levels of asthma knowledge, more optimal asthma management strategies, and self-competence was associated with fewer school absences across the study period. These results suggest an interdependence between aspects of children's sociocultural context, health, and developmental characteristics. This multidimensional model provided preliminary support for the risk function of neighborhood disadvantage and the resource functions of asthma knowledge, asthma management, and self-competence for asthma-related functioning among urban children.

Absenteeism↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Children's asthma, internalizing problems, and social functioning: an urban perspective.

PROBLEM: Asthma may serve as a risk factor for higher levels of psychosocial problems in urban school-aged children. METHOD: Interview data were collected from 48 children (27 with asthma and 21 without asthma) and their mothers. FINDINGS: Asthma did not function as a risk factor for psychosocial problems in this sample. Children with more symptoms of depression and anxiety experienced poorer social functioning, regardless of their health status. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the importance of examining co-occurring difficulties in psychosocial development among urban children in order to design interventions that minimize the impact of such challenges.

Anxiety↗