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Asthma - Epidemiology
Asthma and Allergy Statistics
- In 1994, the estimated number of people with self-reported asthma in
the United States was 14.6 million. The estimate for 1998 has risen to 17
million [1,2,3].
- Asthma
was diagnosed more often than any other illness of 468,000 U.S.
hospital admissions in 1993 [1,3].
- In the United States in 1994 , asthma affected an estimated 4.8
million children (under age 18) out of an estimated 18 million children.
Asthmatic youngsters under age 15 were hospitalized 159,000 times in 1993, and
stayed 3.4 days on average[1,3].
- Asthma
is only slightly more prevalent in African-American
children than in white children [1]. African-American children with
asthma, however, experience more severe disability and have more
frequent hospitalizations than do white children [4,5].
- Among 5-24 year olds, the asthma death rate nearly doubled from 1980
to 1993. In 1993, African Americans in this age group were 4 to 6 times
more likely to die from asthma than whites; and males were 1.5 times at
greater risk than females [1,7].
- Overall, asthma treatment cost an estimated $6.2 billion in 1990; 43%
of that total cost was associated with emergency room use, hospitalization, and
death. Loss of school days, alone, caused decreased productivity that cost an
estimated $1 billion [8].
- Estimates from a skin test survey suggest that allergies affect more
than 50 million people in the United States [9].
- Allergy testing
accounted for 1.4 million office visits to
physicians in 1991 [10].
- Pollen allergy (hay fever or allergic rhinitis)
affects an estimated 10%
or 26 million Americans, not including those with asthma [11]. Allergic rhinitis
is the reason for 9.2 million office visits to physicians yearly [12].
- The estimated overall costs of hay fever in the United States in 1990
totalled $1.8 billion [13].
- Allergic dermatitis
(itchy rash) is the most common skin condition in
children younger than 11 years of age [14]. The percentage of American
children diagnosed with it has increased from 3% in the 1960s to 10% in the
1990s [15].
- Urticaria
(hives; raised areas of reddened skin that become itchy) and
angioedema (swelling of throat tissues) together affect approximately 15%
of the U.S. population every year [15].
- More than 1,000 systemic allergic reactions to natural rubber latex,
including 15 deaths, were reported to the FDA between 1988 and 1992. Followups
showed the reactions were caused by residual rubber tree proteins in medical
devices such as rubber gloves and catheters. Most (82%) allergic reactions to
latex are caused by rubber additives [16].
- Chronic sinusitis
affects nearly 35 million people in the United States
[3].
- Allergic drug reactions
, commonly caused by antibiotics such as
penicillin and cephalosporins, occur in 2 to 3% of hospitalized patients [17].
- Eight percent of children younger than 6 years old experience food
intolerance(s). researchers estimate that up to 2 to 4 percent of all
children under 6 have food allergy.
- A severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis occurs in 3.3% of the
U.S. population as a result of insect stings. At least 40 deaths per year
result from insect sting anaphylaxis [18].
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