Pulmonary Disease Severity

Latino children with cystic fibrosis suffer a greater burden from their disease with more severe pulmonary disease compared to non-Latino white children. Over the past decade, Dr. McGarry’s research has developed the field and directly led to our better understanding of health disparities research in cystic fibrosis (CF). Our focus is to understand the clinical, microbiology, environmental and social factors that may be differentially contributing to more severe disease in Latino children with CF.

Prior Findings

We have found that Latino children with CF have worse pulmonary disease than non-Latino white children with CF. Additionally, there are regional differences in this ethnic gap in lung function, as Latino children with CF in the West have twice as large a disparity in lung function compared to the other U.S. Census regions. This disparity is not modified by socioeconomic factors and occurs even in children with the same CFTR variants. Latino children with CF acquired all forms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a younger age than non-Hispanic children with CF. Compared to non-Hispanic children with CF, Latino children are also at an increased risk of acquiring all forms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Key Publications:

• Pulmonary Function Disparities Exist and Persist in Hispanic Patients With Cystic Fibrosis: A Longitudinal Analysis
• Regional variations in longitudinal pulmonary function: A comparison of Hispanic and non-Hispanic subjects with cystic fibrosis in the United States