ASTHMA

• Asthma has become an epidemic, with the number of cases in the United States tripling in the past 20 years.
• According to the most recent 2001 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 7.2% of U.S. adults have current asthma. Massachusetts is the state with the highest rate of self-reported asthma at 9.5%, Maine and Rhode Island are next at 9.4%, and all the New England states have higher than average rates. (See www.cdc.gov )
• Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and affects more than one child in every fifteen under the age of 18. 
• The cost of asthma in 2000 was estimated to be $20 billion, exceeding the combined total costs of AIDS and tuberculosis.
• Approximately 18 million Americans suffer from asthma, and 6 million of those people are under the age of 18.
• The prevalence of asthma is higher among children than adults, and higher among Afro-Americans than Caucasians.
• More females die of asthma than males and more Afro-Americans die of asthma than Caucasians.
• Among children ages 5 to 17, asthma is the leading cause of school absences from a chronic illness and is responsible for more hospitalizations than any other childhood disease.
• Asthma also accounts for about 1.8 million emergency room visits and 10 million doctors' office visits a year.
• Each day 14 Americans die from asthma.

ALLERGIES

• Allergic disease, including allergic asthma, is the country's most common and costly illness.
• Thirty-eight percent of all Americans suffer from some sort of allergic condition, including allergic asthma.
• Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the United States.
• Allergies are the most frequently reported chronic condition in children, limiting activities in more than 40 percent of these children.
• An estimated two million Americans develop severe allergic reactions to insect stings.
• There are an estimated 42,000 cases of adverse drug reactions reported annually.
• An estimated two million school days are lost each year due to allergies, with an indirect cost reaching $4 billion.
• Allergy sufferers account for more than 8.4 million physician visits each year, and $225 million is spent on physician services annually.
• From 1 to 2 percent of adults have true food allergies, but anybody of any age can have sudden allergic reactions to a food that had previously not been a problem to them.
• Approximately 200 deaths per year are due to food allergies.

TOBACCO & SMOKING

• Tobacco smoke triggers asthma symptoms and makes people with asthma more vulnerable to attacks.
• Tobacco smoke harms 50 million Americans with asthma and allergies.
• Exposure to tobacco smoke worsens symptoms of asthma in 200,000 to 1 million children.
• Studies show that 90% of the new tobacco users are children and teens.
• 90% of adults who currently use tobacco began before the age of 18. Tobacco is addictive.
• Children of mothers who smoke are twice as likely to develop asthma.