A structural model of high crime neighborhoods as a driver of toxic stress leading to asthma diagnoses among children of a large medical practice.

This study tested the relationship of neighborhood crime as a driver of pediatric asthma diagnoses via the mechanism of toxic stress utilizing data from a police department, and pediatric clinic in a large urban city in the southwestern United States. Using structural equation modeling, a full mediation model of neighborhood crime as a driver of toxic stress resulting in increased asthma diagnoses fit the data well (Χ = 14.0, p =.