Asthma: Key figures and prevalence

The numbers increase each year and there are more than 180,000 people each year that die because of this condition.

 

In the United States, about 25 million people are living with asthma, which means that one in every 12 people are affected by asthma. 

 

Asthma is not contagious and it can present itself at any age. One in every 12 adults and between 6 and 10% of kids are asthmatic. Asthma can be a dangerous condition. Adults are four times more likely to die from asthma than children in the United States. Each day, the lives of ten American families are devastated by the death of a loved one to an asthma attack, and tragically, many of these deaths are avoidable with proper treatment and care.

 

Asthma prevalence in the United States is higher than in most other countries in the world, but varies drastically between ethnic populations. Asthma accounts for 14.2 million physician office visits, 439,000 discharges from hospital inpatient care, and 1.8 million emergency department visits each year.