ASTHMA SATISTICS:
AMERICA:
Americans with asthma: 1995 - 14.6 million1
Children with asthma: 1995 - 4.8 million children under age 181
Asthma prevalence: 1994 - 5.4 percent (a 75% increase since 1980)2
Asthma prevalence in pre-school children: 1994 - 5.8 percent of children under age 5 (a 160 percent increase since 1980)2
Asthma deaths: 1997 - more than 5,000 each year3
Asthma-related hospitalisations: 1994 - 466,0002
Emergency room visits for asthma: 1995 - 1.9 million2
Healthcare costs for asthma care: 1998 - estimated at more than $6 billion a year4
Missed schooldays: 1997 - more than 10 million a year5
Loss in productivity by working parents caring for children who miss school due to asthma: 1997 - an estimated $1 billion a year5UK:
Asthma prevalence: 1995 - more than three million people in the UK6
School children with asthma: 1995 - one in seven6
Adults with asthma: 1995 - one in 25 adults6NEW ZEALAND:
Asthma prevalence: 1995 - an estimated 25% of New Zealanders (but only 10% receive treatment)7
Children with asthma: 1995 - an estimated one in five children7
Hospital bed days for asthmatics : 1993 - 26,6697
Public hospital costs: 1995 - $NZ 23 million7
Asthma drugs costs: June 1994 - 1995 - $NZ 112 million (one sixth of the drugs bill)7
Reliever Inhalers sold: 1995 - 1,521,0007
Preventive Inhaler sold: 1995 - 687,0007