|
LINKS TO ASTHMA SITES WHAT IS ASTHMA? |
|
|
Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. It is also the number one cause of school absenteeism. Parents caring for ill children frequently miss work as well.
|
|
|
In the US there are 2.75 million children under the age of 6 diagnosed with asthma. Of these, about 1.53 million had an attack requiring treatment within the last year. These numbers have increased by 60% since the early 1980’s.
In 1999, there were 1.15 million office visits by children under the age of 5 with asthma. There were 269,000 ER visits and 105,000 hospital admissions in this group.
|
|
|
The following asthma statistics are according to the latest information available from the American Lung Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
|
| |
| |
| • |
Approximately 24.7 million people in the US have been diagnosed with asthma, with at least 5.35 million of them children under the age of 11.
|
| • |
Asthma is the leading, serious, chronic illness among children in the US.
|
| • |
Asthma accounts for 10 million absences from school each year.
|
| • |
Asthma is the most common cause of childhood hospitalizations under the age of 15.
|
| • |
It is estimated that 200,000 to one million children with asthma experience symptoms that are more severe due to exposure to secondhand smoke.
|
| • |
About 9.3 million doctor's office visits annually result in a principal diagnosis of asthma.
|
| • |
In 1999, 478,000 hospital discharges were due to asthma.
|
| • |
Asthma treatment costs an estimated $3.2 billion annually for children under the age of 18.
|
| • |
Asthma causes nearly three million lost workdays each year for people over age 18.
| |
Data Source(s): National Health Interview Survey, 2001; American Lung Association; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) |
WHAT IS ASTHMA? LINKS TO ASTHMA SITES
