• Asthma and allergies will strike 25% of all Americans, totaling over 20 million asthmatics.

• Approximately 14 million asthmatics (70% of all), suffer from allergies.  10 million of those asthma sufferers have allergen-induced asthma.

• Of the approximate 23.2 Million diagnosed asthmatics in the U.S., over 9 million are under 18 years old.

• The prevalence of asthma had increased 75% overall in the years 1980 to 1994, marking a 160% increase in children over the previous generation. 

• If a parent has asthma there is a 40% chance that their child will have it as well. 

• 44% of all asthma patients are children.

• In a single year, there have been as many as 13.6 million physician office visits, 1 million outpatient office visits, and 2 million ER visits due to asthma.

• Children 5 –17 years of age missed 14.7 million days of school in a single year.  This contributed to adults missing 24.5 million workdays, totaling $8 billion dollars in lost productivity annually.

• Asthma costs the United States $18 billion every year.

• The incidence of asthma is 39% higher in African Americans then Whites and 35% greater in women.

Sources:

-CDC Fast Facts, Vital health statistics, 2003.

-American Lung Association. Epidemiology & statistics Unit, Research and Program Services. Trends in Asthma Morbidity and Mortality May 2005.

-Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2002. Series 10, Number 221.2004-1549

-National Library of Medicine. Understanding Allergy and Asthma. National Institutes of Health.

-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Fact Sheet #9: Asthma and its Environmental Triggers: Scientists Take a Practical New Look at a Familiar Illness. www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/factsheets/asthma.htm

-Centers for Disease Control. Surveillance for Asthma - United States, 1960-1995, MMWR. 1998; 47 (SS-1).

-Martinez FD, Wright AL, Taussig LM, et al.: Asthma and wheezing in the first six years of life," N Engl J Med 1995; 332:133-138.

-National Health Interview Survey, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.

-Annual U.S. Prevalence Statistics for Chronic Diseases.

-"New Asthma Estimates: Tracking Prevalence, Health Care and Mortality," NCHS, CDC, 2001.

-"National Hospital Discharge Survey," NCHS, U.S. CDC, 2000.

-"The Costs of Asthma," Asthma and Allergy Foundation 1992 and 1998 Study, 2000 Update.

Because of asthma, every day in America approximately:

-30,000 people have an asthma attack

-40,000 people miss work or school

-5,000 people go to the ER

-1,000 people are admitted to the hospital

Halloween 2003

Michael was symptom free for nearly 3 years.  The fact is:

ASTHMA DOES NOT GO AWAY!

Asthma can lay dormant for years as something called “Silent Asthma”.  This was the case with Michael.