D12-08 Geospatial Analysis on Neighborhood Resources and Social Needs Among Children With and Without Asthma

Abstract Rationale Prior studies examining neighborhood resources among children with asthma have largely relied on broad census-tract level socioeconomic indices, which may mask local variation in resource access. This study employs an individual-level geospatial approach to assess whether the number and diversity of community resource programs within specific distances around each child’s home are associated with their social needs. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of participants aged 3 months to 12 years from the Pediatric ACEs and Resiliency Study (2017-2018) at an urban Federally Qualified Health Center. Resources were identified through the Family Informational and Navigation Desk Program and categorized into thirteen categories, including housing, food, education, health, and social services. The primary exposure was local community resource availability during the study period, summarized as (1) total number, (2) diversity of resource types, and (3) a composite score within 1-, 3-, and 5-miles of participants’ homes. The outcome was caregiver-reported number of unmet social needs (0-17) and diagnosis of asthma. Bivariate analyses compared unmet social needs and local community resource availability between children with and without asthma, followed by negative binomial regression analyses to assess associations among children with asthma. Models were adjusted for child age, gender, race/ethnicity, country of birth, caregiver language, civic status, household size, income, and caregiver education, with random intercepts for census tracts to account for clustering. Results Of 497 PEARLS participants, the median age was 5.7 years (IQR, 2.6-8.8); 52% were male (n = 256). Participants were 52% non-Hispanic Black (n = 259) and 23% Hispanic White or Black (n = 115). Children with asthma (n = 212) reported a higher mean (SD) unmet social needs score of 3.5 (3.3) compared to 2.7 (3.0) for those without asthma (p 0.01), while community resources did not differ between these two groups. Among children with asthma, across all distances and resource metrics, no significant associations were observed between local community resource availability and unmet social needs in either unadjusted or adjusted models (p 0.05). Conclusion In this cohort, children with asthma had a higher report of unmet social needs, which did not correspond to lower proximity or diversity of community resources. These findings suggest that the presence of resources alone may be insufficient to mitigate social barriers influencing asthma care. This supports the potential importance of targeted interventions such as active resource navigation—rather than geographic availability alone—to reduce unmet social needs and ultimately improve health outcomes for children with asthma. This abstract is funded by: None