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| Asthma Statistics
In 1998, 26.3 million Americans had been diagnosed with
having asthma in their lifetime.
Asthma is the leading cause of childhood
hospitalizations. Each year, 2 million people are rushed
to the emergency room and 5,000 people die from asthma.
1 in 13 children suffer from asthma - that's about 5
million children nationwide.
Asthma affects more children than any other chronic
disease.
In 1998, an estimated 17 million Americans, or 6.4
percent of the population, had asthma. Children account
for 4.8 million of Americans with asthma.
More than 5,000 people die from asthma each year in the
United States. Although asthma deaths are infrequent,
they have increased significantly during the last two
decades. From 1975-1979, the death rate was 8.2 per
100,000 people. That rate jumped in 1993-1995 to 17.9 per
100,000.
In 1998, asthma incurred an estimated annual economic
cost to the U.S., in direct healthcare alone, of $7.5
billion; indirect costs add another $3.8 billion, for a
total of $11.3 billion.
An estimated 17.3 million Americans suffer from asthma, 5
million of whom are under the age of 18. Asthma is the
leading chronic illness of children in the United States
and the leading cause of school absenteeism due to
chronic illness.
Asthma causes almost 500,000 hospitalizations and about
5,000 deaths annually. Health care costs associated with
asthma are estimated at $14.5 billion a year. The number
of deaths due to asthma, the number of Americans
diagnosed with asthma, and the health care costs of
asthma continue to increase each year. |
