Wayne State Grant Focused On Asthma Among Black Teens

DETROIT (AP) - A Wayne State University researcher is leading an effort to improve asthma treatment among black teens while cutting health care costs.

Deborah Ellis is a professor in the Detroit school's medical school. She and her team have received a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the study that includes reducing barriers to better asthma management and cutting the risk of asthma-related deaths among minority children.

The project aims to adapt and test treatment in pediatric emergency rooms and evaluate what could affect its use in "real world settings." Teens will be referred to Wayne Children's Healthcare Access Program when they're seen for asthma problems in the ER at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Program officials say home education services have helped control asthma and decrease ER use.

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