Asthma’s attack there’s been a dramatic increase worldwide in this sometimes-fatal respiratory disease. Although it’s a familiar ailment, researchers know surprisingly little about it – or why it’s on the rise.
Asthma, a disease once treated as a minor irritant, is now a global medical problem that has reached epidemic proportions. The number of cases in the United States grew more than 150 percent between 1990 and 2008 – from 10 million to 25 million – according to the most recent numbers available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Asthma is the most common chronic problem among children. In fact, the American Lung Association says children make up about one-third of the nation’s 20 million asthma sufferers.The statistics are even more dramatic in some areas. Like in St. Louis, MO around 15 to 20 percent of children suffer from asthma, more than double the national average of 6.3 percent, according to studies by the St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium.

Asthma, an insidious, suffocating disease, is spreading across New York City in epidemic proportions, overwhelming the public health system as it steals the breath from ever more people. An estimated One million New Yorkers, from the tiniest infants to the frail elderly, now suffer from this chronic, incurable illness more than 9% of the population. With numbers that large, the city has to be termed as the Asthma Capital.

Asthma can be a hard condition to manage for some people. So if an individual has questions regarding their condition or medication and their doctor isn’t readily available, they now have another option. Asthma patients and their caregivers can visit asthma-friendly pharmacies and speak to a specially-trained pharmacist who will address concerns and answer questions about the asthma.

Asthma tops childhood illnesses, New England study examines environment, poverty as contributing factors.
Asthma affects one in eight children in New England, eclipsing all other chronic illnesses of childhood and flooding emergency rooms and clinics with hacking, wheezing youngsters, according to a report scheduled to be released this week. The study from a coalition of federal and state public health agencies provides the most comprehensive assessment ever of asthma in the six-state region. It found that more than 400,000 children have been diagnosed with the condition.