ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota health officials say residents of the metropolitan Twin Cities are more likely to end up in the hospital for asthma compared to those living in the rest of the state.

The Department of Health released a report Thursday that shows about 302,000 adults in Minnesota have asthma, or 7.6 percent of the population. That’s lower than the national rate of 9.1 percent. The state has a childhood asthma rate of 7 percent, or about 90,000. That’s also lower than the U.S. rate of 8.4 percent for children.

The health department report also says asthma hospitalizations are 50 percent higher among children and 30 percent higher among adults living in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area compared with rates for children and adults living in the rest of the state.

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