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Allergic Asthma Information
Facts About Allergic Asthma
The Asthma and Allergy Link
- Asthma is a chronic and potentially life-threatening lung disease in which airways became inflamed, leading to episodes of breathing difficulty (e.g., coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath). It is estimated that 20 million Americans suffer from asthma. Of these, 10 million (including 3 million children) suffer specifically from allergic asthma, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
- In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report titled Management of Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma, emphasizing the relationship between asthma and allergic rhinitis (hay fever).
- The WHO findings revealed that the two conditions often occur together, suggesting the concept of “one airway, one disease.”
- More than 60% of people with asthma also suffer from allergies, according to the National Institutes of Health, and research suggests that allergens play a large role in triggering airway inflammation and asthma symptoms.
- A person’s genetically-inherited susceptibility to become allergic is the most important predictor of a person’s chance to develop asthma.
- Allergens, such as dust, pollen and mold, and irritants, such as air pollution and tobacco smoke, are among the major “triggers” for breathing problems in asthma patients. Asthma patients whose symptoms result from these environmental allergens suffer from allergic asthma.
- Although allergens are the most common cause of asthma symptoms, other non-allergic triggers include viral or sinus infections, exercise, acid-reflux disease (stomach acid flowing back up the esophagus), medications, foods, respiratory infections and environmental or occupational exposures such as cold air, pollution, or irritants.
Prevalence
- Allergies often are the primary trigger for asthma symptoms in people under age 30.
- Up to 70% of people over age 30 with asthma are also allergic to airborne particles.
- Asthma prevalence has been increasing since the early 1980s in all ages and racial groups and in both sexes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of asthma sufferers more than doubled from 6.7 million in 1980 to 17 million in 1998.
Asthma Severity
- The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has defined the levels of asthma severity as four categories:
Step One: Mild Intermittent
- Symptoms occur up to twice per week during the day and less than or equal to twice per month at night, with brief exacerbations; asymptomatic between exacerbations
Step Two: Mild Persistent
- Symptoms occur more than twice per week during the day and more than twice per month at night; exacerbations may affect activity
Step Three: Moderate Persistent
- Symptoms occur daily during the day and more than once per week at night; exacerbations affect activity and occur twice per week or more and may last for days
Step Four: Severe Persistent
- Symptoms are continual during the day and frequent at night; exacerbations are frequent and limit physical activity
- More than one-third of asthma sufferers experience symptoms three or more days each week.
- Twenty-seven % of asthma sufferers report daily asthma symptoms.
- Fifteen % of parents of children with asthma report their children have daily symptoms.
Disease Management
- Current asthma therapies include oral and inhaled corticosteroids, long- and short-acting beta agonists, and leukotriene modifiers. These therapies decrease ongoing inflammation and reduce bronchial constriction in asthma. Allergen immunotherapy, (or allergy shots) reduces the reaction people have to allergy triggers.
- A drug recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), known as anti-IgE, revolves around the theory that an imbalance in the immune system may contribute to the development of allergic disease. Anti-IgE therapy stops the allergic reaction before it starts, allowing the patient to avoid allergy symptoms, which also often trigger an asthma attack or lead to the development of asthma.
- Future treatments may zero in on cytokines in the body, which are thought to be responsible for maintaining the chronic inflammation seen in asthma, to inhibit or to block antibodies that trigger the allergic cascade. Additional therapeutic research may also lead to the development of new corticosteroids and new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which would retain the anti-inflammatory efficacy but offer fewer systemic side effects.
Asthma-Related Office Visits and Hospitalizations, and Fatalities
- According to the Department of Health and Human Services, asthma accounts for almost 500,000 hospitalizations each year and two million emergency room visits each year.
- From 1975 to 1995, the estimated annual number of office visits for asthma more than doubled from 4.6 million to 10.4 million.
- A recent survey found that 75% of asthma patients made at least one unscheduled visit to their doctor because of asthma during the past year.
- As many as 14 people in the United States suffer a fatal asthma attack everyday.
- Statistics from 1995 indicate that more than 5,000 Americans die from asthma each year.
Economic Impact
- According to the National Institutes of Health, direct and indirect monetary costs for asthma totaled $11.3 billion in 1998.
- Allergic asthma costs are estimated at $6.2 billion annually.
- Asthma results in an estimated three million lost workdays annually for workers over the age of 18.
- Twenty-three percent of adult asthma sufferers report having missed work in the past year due to asthma symptoms.
- Children with asthma miss more than 10 million school days annually, making the condition one of the leading causes for missed school days.
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