ASTHMA IN AMERICA #2

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts out statistics on diseases from A to Z. Here are some stats on asthma in America:

• There are 22 million asthmatics in the US. That means 1 out of every 12 American had asthma in 2009. About 7 million of these are children.
• Women are more likely than men but boys are more likely than girls to have asthma
• Asthma costs the US about $3,300 per person each year (numbers from 2002-2007). In 2007 this translated into over $50 billion and it is getting worse!
• In 2008 asthmatic children missed about 4 days of school and adults averaged about 5 days of work due to their asthma.

The CDC, the National Institute of Health (NIH), World Health Organization (WHO) and every health care organization dealing with asthmatics agree that education is the key to controlling this disease.

The key education areas that appear to have the greatest impact on controlling asthma include:

• using controller inhalers the right way (for persistent asthmatics). This includes inhaled corticosteroids (cortisone), combinations with long acting bronchodilators and some oral liquids and tablets
• knowing and avoiding your triggers (animal dander, tobacco smoke, pollution,etc). Keep in mind not all asthmatics respond to the same triggers.
• use a personal asthma action plan. This varies depending on the severity of your condition and must be discussed with your healthcare provider

For more CDC info go to HTTP:// http://www.cdc.gov/

Good luck