Hartford was ranked among the worst cities in the U.S. for people with asthma, according to the latest annual ranking by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Hartford placed eighth out of 100 cities nationally in the organization's latest report on the most challenging places to live with asthma — dubbed "Asthma Capitals" — followed by Bridgeport at 33 and New Haven at 60.
“People shouldn't be able to breathe by their zip code, but unfortunately, that's kind of what's happening in Connecticut,” said Kenneth Mendez, the association’s president and CEO.
The nonprofit took three factors into account: emergency room visits, death from asthma and asthma prevalence.
Mendez said Hartford is high in both asthma prevalence, ranking fourth highest nationally, and asthma related deaths.
Mendez pointed out that poverty was the key driver of these negative outcomes, with about 1 in 4 Hartford residents living in poverty. On top of that, Hartford received an F rating for high ozone days in the American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air report.
“Poverty, poor air quality, those aren't good mixes for people with asthma," Mendez said, "and it creates more prevalence in emergency room visits and mortality.”
Doctors and housing activists in Hartford are well aware of the link between asthma, pollution and socioeconomics.
“The Connecticut River Valley acts as a bowl where particulates, ground-level ozone, and other airway irritants settle and remain, especially in summer when prevailing winds sweep in pollution from the Midwest, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic corridor,” said Dr. Samuel Pope, director of the medical ICU at Hartford Hospital.
Pope said asthma hits hardest where poverty and pollution intersect. Lower-income residents have higher rates of asthma and less access to care, which increases the burden of a disease that is currently more treatable than in the past, he said.
“Asthma should not limit someone’s life the way it once did, given the tools we have in modern medicine,” he said.
Work is underway to improve asthma care.
At Connecticut Children’s, primary care physicians receive training to diagnose and treat asthma based on national and international guidelines through the Easy Breathing Program, an initiative conducted in partnership with the state Department of Public Health through a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pulmonologist Dr. Mel Collins said the program improves access to evidence-based care. The hospital also runs a severe asthma clinic for patients who need specialty care, he said.
September is when ER visits for asthma start to spike. Mendez, of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, advised people to get vaccinated against respiratory illness — the flu, COVID-19 and RSV — to reduce asthma complications.
