Should We Be Concerned? What are the Trends of Asthma? (by Mike Herman)

Globally, the trends of asthma is that it continues to escalate with more than 300 million people around the world suffering from asthma. In many countries the annual asthma death toll rises year in, year out.

Although asthma affects people of all ages, it often starts in childhood and is more common in children than adults. More boys have asthma than girls, but in adulthood more women have asthma than men.

Although asthma is a problem among all races, blacks have more asthma attacks and are more likely than whites to be hospitalised for asthma attacks or to die from asthma.

Trends of Asthma in the USA

There is an estimated 23.2 million people that suffer from asthma in the USA, and more than 30% of those are children 0 - 18 years of age.

Asthma is the biggest cause of school absensces in regards to chronic illnesses.

Asthma is the reason for nearly 500,000 hospitalisations and 5,000 deaths each year.

Health care costs related to asthma are more than $14 billion annually.

All statistic related to asthma, health care cost, newly diagnosed people and deaths because of asthma continues to increase yearly.

Trends of Asthma in Britian

Just over 5 million people have asthma. Meaning that 1 in 10 children and 1 in 12 adults. Each year 1,400 people die from asthma, and over a third of these deaths are in people under 65 years of age.

Each year there are 69,000 hospital admissions due to asthma, which includes about 28,500 children.

Approximately 1.2 million people with asthma experience significant restrictions on their daily lives, while 250,000 people have asthma which is so severe that it cannot be controlled by inhalers or stronger medicine.

Asthma treatment costs the NHS (National Health Service) an estimated £889 million a year.

However, too few asthmatics get the right information from their doctor when their asthma is diagnosed - only 6% receive a written self-management plan that explains when to take their medication and only 3% are told what to do when their asthma gets worse.

In a survey of 13-14 year olds in 56 countries, the UK had the fifth highest prevalence rate for asthma.

Trends of Asthma in Australia

Over two million people in Australia have asthma.

While asthma is on the increase, asthma deaths have been steadily declining for the past decade.

It is widely accepted that Australia has some of the best, and most affordable, medications available and are recognised as world leaders when it comes to asthma management and education, largely due to the intensive work of the National Asthma Council.

Summary of the Trends and Statistics

Asthma is a highly ranked chronic health condition in adults in most western countries, and it is the leading chronic illness of children. Asthma rates are on the increase, especially in the western world.

More people in western countries suffer from allergies, compared to people in less affluent rural parts of the world, and allergy rates are also on the increase.

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