WELCOME

Introduction

Asthma

Cancer

Diabetes

Heart disease
and Stroke

Obesity

Nutrition

Physical
Activity

Tobacco
Use

Appendixes

Asthma

Asthma is a common and costly health condition.  More than 30 million people in the United States have asthma.  More women than men suffer from asthma and have a much higher death rate.

Every year, asthma is responsible for about:

	500,000 hospitalizations
	4,500 deaths
	134 million days of restricted activity

The increase in the numbers of men, women, and children with asthma is of great concern. The number of people with asthma increased by 102 percent between 1979–1980 and 1993–1994.

What Is Asthma? 

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by episodes or attacks of inflammation and narrowing of small airways in response to asthma “triggers.”  Asthma attacks can vary from mild to life threatening.

Asthma attacks can involve: 

	Shortness of breath
	Cough
	Wheezing
	Chest pain or tightness
	A combination of these symptoms

Many factors can trigger an asthma attack, including:

	Allergens
	Cigarette smoke
	Infections
	Exercise
	Abrupt changes in the weather
	Chemicals and strong smells
	Some foods and food preservatives, flavorings, and colorings

Although no cure exists for asthma, these four management strategies are essential in controlling the disease:

	Control of factors that trigger asthma attacks
	Medication
	Monitoring of lung condition
	Education of patients, families, and health professionals

Asthma:  A Women's Issue

Baseline data for all five of the Healthy People 2010 asthma objectives targeted for women support the statement that asthma is a women’s health issue. And, it’s an issue for women of color.  Although asthma is a problem among all races, blacks have more asthma attacks and are more likely than whites to be hospitalized for asthma attacks and to die from asthma.

Age differences are also part of the asthma problem.  The asthma death rate for women aged 35 to 64 years is 22.3 per million, compared to 13.0 for men. The difference becomes more dramatic for women aged 65 years and older:  99.1 per million compared to 68.1 per million for men.  When death rates are examined by age, race and

Reducing the Problem of Asthma

The Steps initiative focuses on reducing the complications of asthma in the
following ways:

	Prevention of tobacco use and exposure
	Tobacco cessation
	Increased use of appropriate health care services
	Improved quality of care
	Increased effective self-management of asthma

Cost of Asthma

In 1998, asthma in the United States accounted for an estimated $12.7 billion annually.⁶  Direct medical expenditures accounted for most of the costs, with medications the single largest cost component.  Indirect costs, especially lost work days, also represented an important social effect. 

According to a study reported in 2003, the estimate of total per-person annual costs of asthma averaged $4,912, with direct and indirect costs accounting for $3,180 (65 percent) and $1,732 (35 percent), respectively. The largest components within direct costs were:

	Pharmaceuticals ($1,605 [50 percent])
	Hospital admissions ($463 [15 percent])
	Nonemergency department ambulatory visits ($342 [11 percent]).

Within indirect costs, total cessation of work accounted for $1,062 (61 percent), and the loss of entire work days among those accounted for another $486 (28 percent). Total per-person costs were $2,646, $4,530, and $12,813 for persons self-reporting mild, moderate, and severe asthma, respectively.⁷