Although Springfield and the Pioneer Valley region has dropped from #1 to #12 Asthma and Allergy Capital as determined by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, asthma is still a serious issue with concerning inequities for Black and Latino communities. Hampden County residents continue to be impacted by asthma with emergency room visit rates more than two times that of the state in 2019 (1,128 vs 518 per 100,000, respectively and hospitalization rates over 70% greater (145 vs 84 per 100,000 respectively). Within Hampden County, there were large differences in admission rates for asthma between races.

In 2019, the most recent year in the data set, Black residents of Hampden County were admitted to the emergency department for asthma at a rate double that of White residents. Black hospital admission rates for asthma rose since the last CHNA, whereas they declined or held steady for other racial groups. The state did not provide 2019 data on Latinx admission rates, but in the last CHNA, Latinx rates for ER visits were double Black rates (2617 per 100,000 vs. 1310). The disparities were even more extreme for Latinx pediatric ER visits.