Maine Asthma Prevention and Control Program

Our Goal: To reduce the Burden of Asthma in Maine.

Our Mission: To bring together resources to address asthma in Maine from a public health perspective.

About the Program: The Maine Asthma Prevention and Control Program was created in March 2002. To address the issues surrounding asthma in the state of Maine, and provide leadership and coordination for asthma prevention and intervention activities statewide.

Some of the program activities include:

Monitoring of asthma prevalence as the state and community levels.
Education and training of health professionals on the current methods of diagnosing and treating asthma.
Patient and family education on how to manage the disease.
Dissemination of information on programs shown to reduce hospitalization, emergency room visits and absenteeism due to asthma.
Consultation to and support of community-based asthma prevention and control programs.

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Program Information

In 2002, the Maine Legislature established the Maine Asthma Prevention and Control Program, within the Bureau of Health, to provide leadership for and coordination of asthma prevention and intervention activities statewide. Responsibilities include:

Monitoring of asthma prevalence at the state and community levels;
Education and training of health professionals on the current methods of diagnosing and treating asthma;
Patient and family education on how to manage the disease;
Dissemination of information on programs shown to reduce hospitalization, emergency room visits and absenteeism due to asthma; and
Consultation to and support of community-based asthma prevention and control programs.

The Problem in Maine:

It is estimated that more than 129,000 people in Maine have asthma, and 30,000 of those are between the ages of 0 and 14.

Maine's adult population has one of the highest asthma prevalence rates in the United States.

A study released by the Asthma Regional Council identified Maine as having the highest rate of childhood asthma in New England at over 13%.

Overweight and obese adults are more likely to have current asthma and lifetime asthma than adults of normal weight.

Low income and minority populations experience higher rates of fatalities, hospital admissions and emergency room visits due to asthma.

The asthma prevalence rate is significantly higher for women (10.0%) than for men (8.6%). In Maine, women are more likely to have a reported death from asthma than males and are 1.4 times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma than men.

Poor mental and physical health days are more common among persons with asthma.

Since 1990, asthma hospitalization rates have been decreasing, from 13.9 to 9.5 per 10,000.

Children ages 0-4 have the highest rate of asthma hospitalizations.

Total asthma hospitalization rates are lower in the southern and western counties Maine.

Emergency room visits with a diagnosis of asthma show some seasonal variation.A decrease in the number of visits occur in the summer months with a peak in the number of visits in the fall.

Less than 75% of Maine’s insured (MaineCare and commercial) population fills

prescriptions for the indicated appropriate medications for persons with persistent asthma.

Priority Population:

All Maine residents affected by asthma, especially the undiagnosed and unmanaged population.

Program Activities:

A comprehensive asthma surveillance system has been established and is ongoing.
The Maine Child Health Survey is being used to gather data on asthma as well as other child health status indicators.
Using the Maine Asthma Plan as a guide, asthma control efforts are being expanded to the community level through Regional Asthma Forums.
Asthma education efforts have begun at provider practices.

Funding Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreement 1 U59 EH000201-01

Program Announcement EH06-604

Management plans and publications

Maine Asthma Prevention and Control Program

Asthma Information

Links To Our Partners