Childhood Asthma
Key Facts:
- Asthma is the most common serious chronic disease of childhood, affecting nearly nine million children in the United States
- Children with asthma cough, wheeze, experience chest tightness and shortness of breath. Many parents do not realize that a chronic cough may be the only symptom of asthma and that a child does not have to wheeze to have asthma.
- Up to 80% of children with asthma develop symptoms before age five
- The two most common triggers of asthma in children are colds and allergies
Statistics:
- Nine million children under 18 have been diagnosed with asthma
- Asthma rates in children under the age of five have increased more than 160% from 1980-1994
- In 2000, there were 10.4 million asthma-related outpatient visits to private physician offices and hospital clinics (4.6 million of these involved children under 18).
- There were 1.8 million asthma-related visits to emergency departments in 2000 (more than 728,000 of these involved children under 18).
- There were 465,000 asthma-related hospitalizations in 2000 (214,000 of these involved children under 18).
- More than 14 million school days are missed annually due to asthma.
New Research:
- Sub-optimal asthma control in many patients worldwide, with long-term management falling far short of the goals in international asthma guidelines (JACI July 2004; Rabe et al)
- Airway inflammation and remodeling occur early in the natural history of severe asthma (JACI Jan. 2004; de Blic et al)