Asthma, a Comprehensive Clinical Review.

Abstract

It has been estimated that globally 300 million people have asthma.1 In the United States approximately 24 million individuals have asthma.2 This is 7.4 percent of adults and 8.6 percent of children. Asthma has been increasing since the early 1980s in all age, sex and racial groups.3 Asthma causes almost 2 million emergency room visits each year.4 Each year, asthma causes more than 14 million doctor visits and 439,000 hospital stays.5 In 2014, 3,651 people died from asthma. Many of these deaths are avoidable with proper treatment and care.5 The annual cost of asthma in the U.S is about $56 billion.6 Direct costs were nearly $50.1 billion. Hospital stays were the largest part of these costs. Indirect costs, like lost pay from illness or death, were $5.9 billion.7 Ethnic differences in asthma frequency, illness and death are highly connected with poverty, city air quality, indoor allergens, not enough patient education and poor health care.6 African American children have recently seen the greatest rise in asthma. Sixteen percent of African American children have asthma. Eight percent of white children have asthma.4 Women are more likely to have asthma than men.6 In 2011, 8 million women had an asthma attack. Only 5.1 million men had asthma attacks.4 Women have almost 65% of asthma deaths overall.7 Children have the greatest incidence of asthma. An average of 1 out of every 10 school-aged children have asthma.6 Asthma is the third-leading cause of hospital stays in children.6