Poor Americans more likely to have respiratory problems

In recent decades, air quality has improved in the United States, smoking rates have plummeted and government safety regulations have reduced exposure to workplace pollutants. But rich and poor Americans have not benefited equally, scientists reported in a paper Friday. While wealthier Americans have quit smoking in droves, tobacco use remains frequent among lower-income Americans. Asthma has become more prevalent among all children, but it has increased more drastically in low-income communities. And low-income Americans continue to have more chronic lung disease than the wealthy.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken a disproportionate toll on people of color in the United States, has shone a light on the stark racial health gap in America. Black, Hispanic and Native Americans and Alaska Natives have become infected with the coronavirus at higher rates than White Americans; they have been hospitalized about three times more often, and they have died at about twice the rate of White Americans.

Some of these disparities may be explained by occupational exposures, crowded housing, difficulties gaining access to health care and higher rates of preexisting health conditions, like diabetes. But the new study also suggests poor lung health and higher rates of respiratory problems may have left lower-income Americans susceptible to the pneumonia often caused by the coronavirus.