Asthma symptoms affect an estimated 26 million Americans — 19 million adults and 7 million children — and are one of the leading causes of absences from work and school. Every year, about 14 million Americans see a doctor for asthma. About 1.4 million patients visit a hospital outpatient department for asthma; almost 1.75 million go to a hospital emergency room. The number of people in the U.S. diagnosed with asthma is increasing. The greatest rise in asthma rates is among black children, with an almost 50 percent increase from 2001 through 2009.
According to the World Health Organization, about half the cases are due to genetic susceptibility and half result from environmental factors. Researchers estimate asthma-related costs, including the direct cost of health care and indirect costs such as decreased worker productivity, at around $60 billion annually. Although there is no cure for asthma, effective treatments are available.
