Asthma rates in the U.S. have been rising over the past 10 years, reaching the highest level ever in 2010, according to a new report from the CDC. The report assessed data from the National Health Interview Survey, which included self-reported diagnoses of asthma among a nationally representative sample of Americans. The results indicate that, while in 2001 about 7.3 percent of people in the U.S. reported having asthma, as of 2010, this number rose to 8.4 percent.
Asthma is a chronic disorder, and asthma attacks which occur when airways become obstructed due to bronchial inflammation and constriction can be quite dangerous. Factors that can trigger asthma include cigarette smoke, bronchitis and other airway infections, allergens like pollen, and exercise. There is currently no cure for asthma, although a variety of treatments exist to manage the symptoms. The condition is more common among those who live below the poverty level, and is also more prevalent in females than in males.
The good news, at least, is that the increase in asthma rates has not been linked to a corresponding increase in the risk of death from the disorder. To the contrary The death rate among those suffering from asthma has actually decreased over the study time period by 33 percent: In 2001, out of every 10,000 people with asthma, there were 2.1 deaths from the disorder, whereas in 2010 there were only 1.4 such fatalities.
While ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross finds the increase in asthma rates disconcerting, he wonders how much of this apparent rise is related to the self-reporting used in this survey. Many participants, he notes, may believe that they or their relatives have asthma without necessarily having a firm diagnosis from a physician. He adds: Given the decline in smoking rates and the improvement in air quality over the same period, I would find the increase in asthma rates to be more convincing if we saw hard data indicating an increase in deaths from the disorder, but this is the exact opposite of what the survey uncovered.
