Asthma Statistics
United States
General/Diagnosis
• In 2016, approximately 8.3% of children in the United States had asthma. Boys were slightly more likely to have asthma than girls at a rate of 9.2% and 7.4%, respectively.7
• Asthma prevalence among children increased from 8.7% in 2001 to 9.4% in 2010, and then decreased to 8.3% in 2016. Although not all changes were statistically significant, a similar pattern was observed among subdemographic groups studied, with the exception of Mexican/Mexican-American children, among whom asthma prevalence increased from 5.1% in 2001 to 6.5% in 2016. 7
Costs
• In 2013, children with asthma between the ages of 5 and 17 years-old missed 13.8 million days of school. That is an average of 2.6 days per child.7
• In 2012, the median annual medical cost of asthma was $983 in the United States. This ranged from an average low of $833 in Arizona to an average high of $1,121 in Michigan.7
Health Care Visits/Hospital
• Children who were 4 years-old or younger were less likely to have asthma, but the children in this age range with asthma were more likely to have asthma attacks (62.4%), emergency department or urgent care center visits (31.1%) and hospitalizations (10.4%) compared to older children who were 12 to 17 years-old.7
Morbidity Rates
• From 2001 to 2016, the percentage of children with asthma who suffered from an asthma attack decreased from 61.7% to 53.7%.7
• There were 3,615 asthma-related deaths in 2015. Children under 18 years old made up 219 of those deaths.1
Work-related Asthma or Occupational Asthma
• An estimated 1.9 million cases of asthma among adults were work-related, accounting for 15.7% of current adult asthma cases.2
• Work-related asthma significantly differs by age and is highest among persons aged 45–64 years (20.7%).2
• Asthma prevalence was highest among workers in the healthcare and social assistance industry, with 8.8% of workers reporting that they had asthma at the time of the survey. Participants in the educational services industry reported the second highest rate of asthma at 8.2%.8
• Among workers in the wood products manufacturing industry, 57.3% reported having an asthma attack in the last year which was the highest rate of all industries. Workers in the plastics and rubber products manufacturing were second most likely to suffer from an asthma attack, at a rate of 56.7%.8
Asthma and Influenza
• Among the 830 influenza-related pediatric deaths between 2004 and 2012, 16% of the subjects had asthma.3
• Between 2003 and 2009, 32% of the 2,165 children hospitalized for seasonal influenza had asthma.4
• 44% of 1,160 children hospitalized for pandemic H1N1 infection had asthma. Children with asthma had four times higher odds of pandemic H1N1 infection than non-asthmatic children and were hospitalized at significantly higher rates than prior influenza seasons.4
• The CDC recommends universal, annual vaccination to reduce influenza-related mortality and curb viral transmission. This includes young children, adults older than 65, and those with high-risk medical conditions, (e.g. asthma) who are at the highest risk for complications of influenza infection. Subjects with underlying cardiopulmonary complications like asthma are at risk of pneumonia, bronchiolitis, sepsis and secondary bacterial infection from influenza.5
Asthma and Obesity
• In 2011-2014, current asthma prevalence was 8.8% among all adults. During this time period, asthma was more common among adults with obesity (11.1%) compared with adults in normal weight (7.1%) and overweight (7.8%) categories.6
• Women with obesity were more likely to have asthma than those in lower weight categories. Overall, women with obesity had higher current asthma prevalence (14.6%) compared with women in the normal weight (7.9%) and overweight (9.1%) categories.6
• Among adults aged 60 and over, there was a significant trend of increasing asthma prevalence with weight status: 7.0% among normal weight adults; 9.1% among overweight adults; 11.6% among adults with obesity.6
• Among weight status subgroups, current asthma prevalence increased from 5.6% in 2001-2012 to 8.4% in 2013-2014 among adults in the overweight category.6
References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 61, No. 4, May 8, 2013
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Work-related Asthma in 22 States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2015; 64: 13: 343.
3. Wong KK, Jain S, Blanton L, Dhara R, Brammer L, Fry AM, et al. Influenza-associated pediatric deaths in the United States 2004-2012. Pediatrics 2013; 132:796-804.
4. Dawood FS, Kamimoto L, D’Mello TA, Reingold A, Gershman K, Meek J, et al. Children with asthma hospitalized with seasonal or pandemic influenza 2003-2009. Pediatrics 2013; 132: 796-804.
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention and control of seasonal influenza with vaccines: recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2013; 62:1-43.
6. Akinbami LJ, Fryar CD. Asthma prevalence by weight status among adults: United States, 2001-2014. NCHS data brief, no 239. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2016.
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Asthma in Children — United States, 2001–2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2018; 67(5):149-155
8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence of Asthma, Asthma Attacks, and Emergency Department Visits for Asthma Among Working Adults — National Health Interview Survey, 2011–2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2018; 67(13):377-386.
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