Table of Contents Asthma Information & Explanation Why is Asthma on the Rise? Asthma Information & Statistics Keeping on Top of Your Condition

Asthma - Information & Statistics

1. In 1998, an estimated 17 million Americans, or 6.4 percent of the population, had asthma. Children account for 4.8 million of Americans with asthma.
   
   
2. Asthma affects slightly more African Americans (5.8 percent) than whites (5.1 percent). In 1993 however, African Americans were 3 to 4 times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for asthma. In 1996, African Americans were 4 to 6 times more likely than whites to die from asthma.
   
   
3. More than 5,000 people die from asthma each year in the United States. Although asthma deaths are infrequent, they have increased significantly during the last two decades. From 1975-1979, the death rate was 8.2 per 100,000 people. That rate jumped in 1993-1995 to 17.9 per 100,000.
   
   
4. In 1994, asthma caused 451,000 hospitalizations. Children under 15 accounted for 169,000 of these.
   
   
5. In 1995, asthma caused more than 1.8 million emergency room visits.
   
   
6. Asthma cost the U.S. economy an estimated $10.7 billion in 1994, including a direct health care cost of $6.1 billion and indirect costs, such as lost work days, of $4.6 billion.