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Asthma in the United States: Recent Trends and Current Status

2003; Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy; Volume: 9; Issue: 5 Supp A Linguagem: Inglês

10.18553/jmcp.2003.9.s5.3

1944-706X

Sean D. Sullivan,

Pharmaceutical studies and practices

A sthma affects 17.7 million American adults, including 10.5 million women and 7.1 million men (i.e., the disease affects women in greater numbers than men). 1 The disease also affects approximately 5 million children in the United States. 2 The prevalence of asthma has more than doubled since 1980, a year when 8.5 million cases were reported. 2The increase in asthma prevalence over the past 2 decades has been particularly dramatic in children aged 4 years and younger.In this age group, 0.4 million cases were reported in 1980 and 1 million cases were reported in 1998, representing a 250% increase.Although asthma affects many children and young adults, it also affects elderly Americans. 3However, only about 10% of people with asthma are aged 65 years or older. ss Health Resource Utilization and MortalityAsthma was responsible for 9.3 million physician office visits in the United States in 2000. 1 The disease results in 500,000 hospitalizations 4 and 5,500 deaths 2 each year in this country.The rates of emergency department visits, hospitalization, and death are 2 to 3 times higher in African Americans than in white Americans. 2The rate of asthma-related emergency department visits by men and women of all races increased during the 1990s (Figure 1), and the increase in rate between 1994 and 1995 was greater in women than in men. 5 The rate of asthma-related hospitalization began to decrease in the 1990s 5 (Figure 2), possibly because of improved medication use and the availability of treatment guidelines.Reductions in hospitalizations were observed primarily in white Americans, not in young African Americans.Rates of asthma-related hospitalization, emergency department visits, and deaths in African Americans continue to exceed rates in white Americans. 6etween 1979 and 1995, the mortality rate increased by 132%, from 7.2 to 16.7 per million African Americans.The mortality rate increased from 1.4 to 3.9 per million white Americans, an increase of 179% during the same period.