The Cost of Asthma

Asthma affects 22 million Americans. A principal clinical consequence of both acute and chronic inflammation is the development of asthma exacerbations. Exacerbations of asthma are not only an important clinical marker of inadequately controlled or worsening asthma but are probably the most important outcomes from both a humanistic and health economics viewpoint. Severe asthma exacerbations lead to about 4,000 deaths and nearly 500,000 hospitalizations per year.

Healthcare costs for asthma include outpatient visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient departments, visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) and hospitalizations. When considering the prevalence of asthma and the frequency of such visits, as outlined in the statistics below, the costs become monumental.

%u2022         34.1 million people have been diagnosed with asthma during their lifetime.

%u2022         22.8 million people have asthma.

%u2022         There were 14.1 million outpatient asthma visits to private physician offices and hospital outpatient departments.

%u2022         Children less than 18 years had 7 million physician office and outpatient visits.

There are about 4,000 deaths due to asthma each year, many of which are avoidable with proper treatment and care.

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