FACTS AND FIGURES

• Asthma cannot be cured but it can be controlled. Getting your asthma under control means that you are able to do your daily activities and lead a normal life without having asthma symptoms.

• The characteristic symptoms of asthma include: breathlessness; wheezing (a whistling sound in the chest); chest tightness; cough.

• The cause of asthma is not known, but there is evidence that many factors play a part, including genetic factors (asthma and allergies tend to run in families); environmental factors (dust mites, exposure to tobacco smoke, being sensitised to animals, pollens, moulds and dust in the environment if there is a genetic predisposition); dietary changes; lack of exercise; and occupational exposure (chemicals, dusts, gases, moulds and pollens).

• The most common trigger for people is viral infections (colds and flu). Other triggers include allergens such as house dust mites, pollens, moulds, tobacco smoke, exercise and animal dander (or hair). Sudden changes in temperature and weather can also trigger an asthma attack. Food additives, colourings and flavourings can be a particular problem for children. Generally however, food is a very rare trigger for asthma. There is no evidence that dairy foods increase the production of mucus in the airways.

• Over 2.2 million Australians have asthma.

• People with asthma experience episodes of wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath due to narrowing of the airways within the lungs.

• Asthma tends to be long-lasting but the symptoms may occur frequently or only occasionally.

• More boys than girls have asthma. However, after teenage years, asthma is more common in women than in men.

• Written instructions on how to recognise when asthma is getting worse and what action to take when it does get worse can help many people control their asthma and stay out of hospital. These instructions are known as Asthma Action Plans.

• People with asthma rate their health lower than people without asthma.

• A greater proportion of people with asthma had days away from work or study in the last two weeks (11.4%) than people without asthma (7.9%) preceding a survey.

• A significant proportion of the Australian population has asthma. Asthma affects 14-16% of children and 10-12% of adults. These rates are high by international standards.

• The prevalence of asthma in Australia increased through the 1980s and 1990s, but evidence suggests there has been no further increase in recent years.

• In primary school-aged children, asthma is more common among boys than among girls.

• After teenage years, more women have asthma than men.

• Asthma is more common among Indigenous Australians, particularly adults, than among other Australians.

• Asthma is less common among Australians who were born in non-English-speaking countries than among other Australians.

• The number of deaths due to asthma has continued to decline. In 2003, 314 people died from asthma, representing 0.3% of all deaths. Asthma deaths have decreased in Australia since the early 1980s, but the rate of asthma deaths in Australia is still high in comparison to other countries.

• The risk of dying from asthma is highest in the elderly; however, asthma deaths occur in all age groups.

• Of all people with asthma, 2.6% had taken days away from work or study and 3.2% reported other days of reduced activity in the two weeks preceding a survey.

• The risk of dying from asthma increases with age. The majority of deaths occur in people aged 65 years and over.

• 318 people died from asthma in 2005 – the latest figures.

• In 2004-05, the prevalence of asthma in Australia was estimated at 10.3% (or about 2,013,530 people), which was less than in 2001 when the prevalence was 11.6%. This decrease in prevalence was limited to children and adults aged less than 35 years.

• The burden of asthma in Australia has reduced and there have been some improvements in management between 2001 and 2004-05. However, socio-economic disparities are widening and there are still a number of areas for improvement. Future health gains could be achieved through interventions that would improve appropriate use of inhaled corticosteroids and written Asthma Action Plans, reduce smoking, exposure to passive smoke and obesity among people with asthma.

• Under existing cause of death data, asthma was listed as the main factor in the deaths of just 2223 Australians aged 55 and over from 1997 to 2003. But the researchers found that ignored another 8165 cases where the disease was one of several multiple causes.

• For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), previous official figures put the death toll at 39,070 elderly Australians from 1997 to 2003, but that ignored another 87,403 cases where it was one of the factors.

• While there were 6171 hospitalisations in 2003-04 for which asthma was the principal diagnosis, the number blew out to 20,796 when the search was widened to include any mention of asthma.