Asthma

Asthma is one of the most common lung diseases. Asthma is an obstructive lung disease. The main difference with that other important obstructive lung disease COPD, is that asthma is reversible.

Some figures about asthma:

• Asthma is more common in developed countries, the highest prevalence is found in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, followed by Great Britain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium.
• An estimated 1 in 20 adults in Western countries suffer from asthma
• About 15% of these cases are occupational asthma
• Asthma is even more common in children: according to some sources, up to 25% of children between 2 and 6 years old suffer from asthma, fortunately this number decreases with age.
• Despite the good treatment options that are available, there are still several hundred asthma related deaths per year, even in developed countries
• The number of new asthma patients is increasing in Western countries, air pollution and busy traffic with the accompanying emissions of nitrous oxide are no stranger to this.

Asthma Topics

• GINA
  The Global Initiative for Asthma works with health care professionals and health officials to reduce the prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of asthma
• Famous Asthmatics
  A long list of famous people that suffer from asthma, which hasn't stopped them from being very succesfull, even in sports.