Tennessee Tops Asthma Capitals List

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) recently released its second annual US Asthma Capitals rankings. Knoxville, Tenn, earned the number-1 position in Asthma Capitals among the 100 most challenging places to live for individuals with asthma. Washington, DC, made a huge jump from number 50 last year to number 5 in this year's rankings. The complete list is available at www. AsthmaCapitals.com.

The AAFA's rankings were based on >12 sources of state and municipal data and were categorized by risk factors, medical factors, and prevalence factors. The risk factors included the number of asthma specialists, annual pollen level, annual air quality, and school inhaler laws. The top 10 Asthma Capitals are:

Knoxville, Tenn

Memphis, Tenn

Louisville, Ky

Toledo, Ohio

Washington, DC

St. Louis, Mo

Allentown, Pa

Springfield, Mass

Grand Rapids, Mich

Scranton, Pa