h4. General Asthma Facts <a href="/asthma">Hello Asthma </a> <div class="indent20"> * Close to 20 million Americans currently have asthma, more than a third of them are children under 18 years of age. Of these, 11 million Americans had an asthma attack or episode in the past year. * Over the past two decades, asthma deaths have risen both in numbers and rate. The number of deaths attributed to asthma has increased by 109 percent, from 2,598 in 1979 to 5,438 in 1998. * Asthma accounts for an estimated 3 million lost work days annually for people over 18 years of age; the annual direct health care costs of asthma is approximately $8.1 billion; indirect costs (e.g. lost productivity) add another $4.6 billion, for a total of $12.7 billion dollars. * Only about a quarter of the children with asthma become symptom-free when their airways reach adult size. The condition persists beyond childhood in 85 percent of women and in 72 percent of men * Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness among children. Most children have mild to moderate problems, and their illness can be controlled by treatment at home or in the doctor's office. For some children the illness becomes a formidable problem causing numerous visits to the hospital emergency room and multiple hospitalizations. * The estimated annual cost of treating asthma in those under 18 years of age is $3.2 billion. * Asthma accounts for 12.8 million lost school days annually. It is the leading cause of school absenteeism attributed to chronic conditions. * Asthma is the number one cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 and it is the first-ranking chronic condition. * Asthma accounts for one in six of all pediatric emergency visits in the United States. The estimated annual rate for emergency room visits among children under age 5 is 120.7 per 100,000--the highest rate of all age groups. * Secondhand smoke can cause serious harm to children. An estimated 200,000 to one million asthmatic children have their condition worsened by exposure to secondhand smoke. * By the year 2020, 1 in 5 families will be affected by asthma * Asthma incurs an estimated annual economic cost of $16.1 billion to our nation </div> h4. Statewide Statistics table{border:1px solid black;padding:0px;border-collapse:collapse;}. |_. &nbsp; |_=. Delaware |_=. New Jersey |_=. Pennsylvania |_=. West Virginia | |_. Adults w/ asthma |=. 46,000 |=. N/A |=. 796,000 |=. 130,000 | |_. Children w/ asthma |={background:#eee;}. 23,600 |={background:#eee;}. N/A |={background:#eee;}. 238,000 |={background:#eee;}. 43,000 | 0 2007-06-12T13:13:07-04:00 up to date information and numbers on asthma 8 0 asthma-facts 2007-11-11 1 0 2008-07-02T10:35:39-04:00