Prevalence And Impact Of Asthma
Asthma prevalence has ranged from 3% to 5% in developing countries to > 20% in developed countries, affecting people of all ages. The disability-adjusted life years lost due to asthma is estimated at 15 million per year, which equates to 1% of total global health impairment and is similar to the impact of diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and schizophrenia. Although some countries have reported a reduction in hospitalization and deaths in recent years, for many economically developed countries, the improvements seen over the last decades of the last century have plateaued in the new millennium. The prevalence of asthma is increasing in many developing countries. In clinical trials, most patients are able to achieve high levels of control,14 yet surveys repeatedly show that in real life, most patients continue to suffer significant levels of symptoms and many have asthma attacks.15 This is sometimes related to biologically severe, therapy-resistant disease, but more often to avoidable behavioral factors such as poor adherence to treatment, poor inhaler technique, or to unaddressed comorbidities. A recent UK national review of asthma deaths16 reported preventable factors in most.
G.U. Schuster, … C.B. Stephensen, in, 2013
Adult Asthma And Lung Function
While asthma in adults is often the persistence or relapse of asthma from childhood, true adult onset asthma is a distinct phenotype most often related to environmental risk factors such as smoking . The impact of adult asthma on lung function outcomes appears to vary by phenotype including age-at-onset. It has been shown that both early and late onset adult current asthma were associated with a reduction in lung function and an increased risk of fixed airflow obstruction at 45 years, with the effect of early onset asthma being greater than late onset asthma . These findings differ from the above mentioned systematic review and meta-analysis which found greater levels of fixed airflow obstruction for those with late-onset adult asthma, which most likely relates to inaccurate retrospective recall of childhood asthma by adults .
Further evidence from longitudinal studies suggests that adults with asthma have greater lung function decline than those without asthma . While both early and late onset adult asthma seem to be associated with faster lung function decline, the decline associated with early onset adult asthma is greater than that with late onset adult asthma .
Reducing The Burden Of Asthma
Asthma cannot be cured, but good management with inhaled medications can control the disease and enable people with asthma to enjoy a normal, active life.
There are two main types of inhaler:
- bronchodilators , that open the air passages and relieve symptoms and
- steroids , that reduce inflammation in the air passages. This improves asthma symptoms and reduces the risk of severe asthma attacks and death.
People with asthma may need to use their inhaler every day. Their treatment will depend on the frequency of symptoms and the different types of inhalers available.
It can be difficult to coordinate breathing using an inhaler especially for children and during emergency situations. Using a spacer device makes it easier to use an aerosol inhaler and helps the medicine to reach the lungs more effectively. A spacer is a plastic container with a mouthpiece or mask at one end, and a hole for the inhaler in the other. A homemade spacer, made from a 500-ml plastic bottle, can be as effective as a commercially-manufactured inhaler.
Access to inhalers is a problem in many countries. In 2019, only half of people with asthma had access to a bronchodilator and less than one in five had access to a steroid inhaler in public primary health-care facilities in low-income countries .
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How Many People Get Sick From Asthma
- In 2016, asthma accounted for for 9.8 million doctors office visits4
- In 2018, asthma accounted for 178,530 discharges from hospital inpatient care and 1.6 million emergency department visits.5,6
- Black Americans are five times more likely than white Americans to visit the emergency department due to asthma.6
How Many People Have Asthma
Establishing the proportion of the populationwho have asthma , and comparing this prevalence betweencountries, requires the use of standardisedmeasures implemented in large-scale, globalsurveys. Fortunately, we have this informationfrom separate surveys of asthma in adults andchildren, but the last surveys were about 15years ago. Questionnaires were used to measureasthma prevalence in these surveys. Althoughthis method has some limitations as an accurateway of identifying the presence of asthma inindividuals, it provides reasonable estimates ofprevalence in populations and has the advantageof being feasible for large-scale surveys.
The International Study of Asthma andAllergies in Childhood surveyed arepresentative sample of 798,685 adolescentsaged 13-14 years in 233 centres in 97 countries between 2000 and 2003. In ISAACthese adolescents were asked whether theyhad experienced wheeze, a symptom thatis commonly attributable to asthma, in thepreceding 12 months. The crucial finding was thatthe prevalence of recent wheeze varied widelybetween countries and between centres withincountries . The highest prevalence was generally observed in Englishspeakingcountries of Australasia, Europe andNorth America, and in parts of Latin America.The lowest prevalence was observed inthe Indian subcontinent, Asia-Pacific, EasternMediterranean, and Northern and Eastern Europe.
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Global Epidemiology Of Asthma
Accurately estimating the incidence and prevalence of asthma on a global scale is challenging because the diagnosis is often based on survey responses to questions about relatively non-specific symptoms which are open to subjective interpretation . A recent multicenter cohort study conducted in Canada that enrolled 701 randomly selected adults with physician-diagnosed asthma, showed that current asthma could not be confirmed in 33% of patients . Moreover, there is no universally accepted definition nor is there a single test to definitively diagnose asthma . Additionally, asthma has been increasingly recognized as a heterogeneous disease comprised of both allergic and non-allergic phenotypes, a feature not captured in prior surveys.
Despite these limitations, validated tools for asthma diagnosis are available. The International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood validated questionnaire, which was used in 56 countries among children aged 6 to 14 years, is one of the frequently used tools for identifying asthma in children . Similarly, a validated instrument for adults is based on the European Community Respiratory Health Survey questionnaire . In the United States, the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention routinely collects data about prevalence using self-reported symptoms using validated measures .
Countries With The Highest Asthma Rates In The World
Asthma is a debilitating disease, and if you take a look at the list of countries with the highest asthma rates in the world, you will be absolutely appalled to know just how many people succumb to asthma.
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Asthma is more common in children, but it can occur much later in life in adulthood as well. In the United States, there are many states where there is an alarmingly high number of children afflicted by asthma. Take a look at 10 States with The Highest Childhood Asthma Rates in The U.S., if you want to know which states fall into this category. Asthma can be an extremely difficult disease to live with, as asthma patients find it very hard to breathe during an attack. An attack can be triggered by anything from simple pollen to dust particles or even just cold weather, so it can hit you anytime, anywhere. It is extremely important for a patient to identify what triggers their attack so that they can then avoid coming into contact with those elements to keep safe. If you are an asthma patient, then you will definitely like to know about the 11 Best Cities To Live For People With Asthma In The World, as it will make your life a little easier.
Lets get our list of countries with the highest asthma rates in the world on the way.
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How Many People Died From Asthma In Each Uk Region In 200812
England: Death rates for asthma in the West Midlands and the South East were higher than in other parts of the UK. The South West had the lowest asthma mortality rate.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: Asthma death rates were similar to the UK generally.
Asthma mortality ratios by UK regions, males and females, 200812
Relative risk of death from asthma, by local authority district , 200812
Relative risk is used in medical research to compare risk in different groups of people. In the maps we show the risk of an area relative to the average for Scotland, England and Wales. Here we show whether the group of people living in a particular area have a risk of dying from asthma that is lower or higher than the average. Because of the way relative risk is calculated there must always be some areas above average and some below average.
You can find out how these figures were calculated.
The Impact Of Asthma On Daily Life
Asthma is often under-diagnosed and under-treated, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
People with under-treated asthma can suffer sleep disturbance, tiredness during the day, and poor concentration. Asthma sufferers and their families may miss school and work, with financial impact on the family and wider community. If symptoms are severe, people with asthma may need to receive emergency health care and they may be admitted to hospital for treatment and monitoring. In the most severe cases, asthma can lead to death.
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Asthma Facts And Figures
Asthma causes swelling of the airways. This results in narrowing of the airways that carry air from the nose and mouth to the lungs. Allergens or irritating things entering the lungs trigger asthma symptoms. Symptoms include trouble breathing, wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest. Asthma can be deadly.
- There is no cure for asthma, but it can be managed with proper prevention of asthma attacks and treatment.
- More Americans than ever before have asthma. It is one of this countrys most common and costly diseases.
How Many People Die From Asthma
- On average, ten Americans die from asthma each day. In 2019, 3,524 people died from asthma. Many of these deaths are avoidable with proper treatment and care.7
- Adults are five times more likely to die from asthma than children.7
- Women are more likely to die from asthma than men, and boys are more likely than girls.7
- Black Americans are nearly three times more likely to die from asthma than white Americans.7
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Million American Individuals Visit A Doctors Office Due To Asthma
Not only that, but the stats reveal that asthma also accounts for around 1.8 million emergency department visits and around 188,968 discharges from hospital inpatient care centers every year. When it comes to African-Americans, the asthma statistics from the US reveal that this demographic group is three times more likely to end up in a hospital due to the condition.
Do Men Or Women Have Higher Rates Of Asthma
- Women are more likely to have asthma than men. 9.8 percent of women have asthma, compared to 6.1 percent of men.1
- Women are more likely to die from asthma than men.7
- Boys are more likely to have asthma than girls. 8.4 percent of boys have asthma, compared to 5.5 percent of girls.1
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. . 2019 National Health Interview Survey data. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from:
Ferrante, G., & La Grutta, S. . The Burden of Pediatric Asthma. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 6.
Zahran, H., Bailey, C., Damon, S., Garbe, P. and Breysse, P. . Vital signs: Asthma in children United States, 20012016. .
National Center for Health Statistics. . National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. . Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from:
Asthma Research
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Asthma As A Global Disease
Asthma has clearly shown to be a global disease, however in last two decades was defined as a real public health problem affecting countries from all over the world and population of all age groups . However, there are differences among countries, with rates significantly above the average, for example, in some native English-speaking countries and, in contrast, much lower-than-average prevalence rates in some African and Asian countries .
Upon the first epidemiological publications on asthma, it was noted that asthma prevalence was higher in social classes with a high or very high annual income and that asthma severity was higher among the most disadvantaged. However, the latest epidemiological data from Africa, Latin America and Asia, showed that, in areas with low economic development, asthma prevalence has been increasing . Although there could be several explanations, the development of larger cities, with consequent reduction of rural areas, may have played a role. With most the world population living in urban areas, the environmental conditions as the lifestyle changes have certainly influenced the asthma prevalence rate increase .
Consequently, it can be said that asthma, worldwide, is globalized and affect all countries as a public health problem.
Latin And Central America
It is approximated that 40 million Latin Americans live with asthma.
In some reports, urban residency within Latin America has been found to be associated with an increased prevalence of asthma. Childhood asthma prevalence was found to be higher than 15 percent in a majority of Latin American countries. Similarly, a study published relating to asthma prevalence in Havana, Cuba estimated that approximately 9 percent of children under the age of 15 are undiagnosed for asthma, possible due to lack of resources in the region.
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Influence Of The Md On Asthma In Children
While the overall asthma prevalence has increased, with the highest incidence occurring in children, one of the potential environmental explanations that has been proposed for this increase relates to changes in diet . According to researchers, a major change of the contemporary diet that increases the risk of developing asthma is the change in dietary fat intake characterized by the increment of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and reduction of n-3 PUFAs . Others have proposed a mechanism that involves the decline of antioxidant defenses in the lungs, resulting in increased oxidant-induced airway damage caused by low intake of dietary antioxidants . Many epidemiological studies have evaluated the role of individual nutrients or foods on asthma prevalence, suggesting a protective role of high fruit, vegetable, and fish intake . Other studies have reported on the beneficial effects of single foods rich in antioxidants, n-3 PUFAs, or flavonoids on asthma or wheeze . In a systematic review and meta-analysis, Nurmatov et al. concluded that although the available epidemiologic evidence regarding vitamins A, D, and E, zinc, fruits and vegetables, and the MD pattern is limited, data regarding these items and their role in the prevention of childhood wheeze and possibly asthma are encouraging.
Clearing The Air: World Asthma Day
May 5, 2021
May is Asthma Awareness Month, and today May 5 is World Asthma Day.
Because I work in the world of statistics, its important for me to think about Asthma Day in the context of data. According to the CDC, 25 million Americans have asthma, or 1 in every 13 people a number that has been steadily increasing since the 1980s. Asthma is more common in adult women than adult men, more common in boys than girls, more common in Black children than in children of any other ethnicity. Its the top reason for missed school days in children. And every day, 10 Americans die from it, while Black Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma as other ethnicities. Those are some of the facts.
In addition to viewing asthma from an analytic perspective, I view it from a very personal standpoint as well. As a sufferer of asthma since childhood, for me, every day is Asthma Day. I am extremely lucky to have well-controlled asthma, as well as access to excellent medical care. Not everyone in America is as fortunate as I am over 60% of adults with asthma have uncontrolled asthma. Many people in many places all over the country are struggling to control their asthma.
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The Conditions Prevalence Among Kids Increased From 87% In 2001 To 94% In 2010
However, asthma among kids decreased to 8.3 in 2016. Even though some changes werent significant in the statistical sense, an interchangeable pattern was noticed among other groups, with the exception of Mexican-American and Mexican kids. In fact, the asthma prevalence among kids belonging to this demographic group increased from 5.1% to 6.5% in 2016.
Does Your Standard Of Living Affect Your Chances Of Having Asthma In The Uk
In 2012 incidence rates were 36% higher in the most deprived communities than in the least deprived. Prevalence is around 11% higher. These trends are broadly consistent over time. Higher levels of damp housing and fungal spores, pollution and second-hand smoke among more deprived groups could be contributing factors. But further research is needed to fully understand this link.
Number of people per 100,000 ever diagnosed with asthma, by standard of living, 200412
Find out how the standard of living figures were calculated: Methodology – standard of living
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Regional Trends And Asthma Belts
This report also examines regional trends found in the two Asthma Belts the Ohio Valley area and the Northeast Mid-Atlantic region and the impact of human activity and climate change in the west.
Northeast Mid-Atlantic Asthma Belt
This cluster extends from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Poverty, air pollution, and access to specialists are key risk factors for these cities. This is likely due to more industrial and urban populations. Asthma rates tend to be higher, especially among children, in urban locations.
This years top Asthma Capital is Allentown, Pennsylvania, the mid-way point in the Northeast Mid-Atlantic Asthma Belt. Allentowns placement in the top spot is largely due to high rates of asthma-related emergency room visits. Compared to previous years, Allentown’s asthma emergency room rate has been increasing steadily.
Ohio Valley Asthma Belt
Three Ohio cities are in the top 20 of our report Cleveland, Dayton, and Columbus. Nearby, Detroit, Michigan, and Louisville, Kentucky, appear in this Asthma Belt. With so much of this region facing poor outcomes, asthma appears to be a widespread concern. Poverty, air pollution, and high numbers of medicine use are the key risk factors that have placed these cities at the top of our report.
Asthma in the West