Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the body's bronchial (airway) tissues that afflicts millions of people in the United States. People with asthma experience shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing.
Most asthma attacks are mild, but even people with mild asthma can have a fatal attack, and more than 5,000 deaths a year are attributed to asthma.
The number of Americans with asthma has surged in recent years, with more than 20 million people of all ages reporting having asthma, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). Greater numbers of children now have asthma than in the past, and poor children in urban environments have been hit particularly hard. On the other end of the age spectrum, Americans over 65 make up the nation's largest group of asthmatics.
The AAAAI estimates that the prevalence rate in African Americans is roughly 38 percent higher than the rate in whites.
Roughly half of those who suffer from asthma have allergic asthma, which is triggered by allergens such as pollen, mold or animal dander.
Someone suffering through an asthma attack may appear to be gasping for breath. But, in fact, it is easier to breathe in during an asthma attack than it is to breathe out. As more air flows in, it becomes trapped in the lungs, which become overinflated. Asthmatics continue to try to push this ever-increasing amount of inhaled air out of their lungs and through a narrowed airway, usually with limited success.
Some children with asthma may eventually see their symptoms subside as they grow older, but asthma is never actually cured, and symptoms can reoccur at a later date. Others may see their symptoms worsen as they grow older.
Roughly 40 percent of children who have parents with asthma will develop an asthma condition of their own.
In the United States, direct health-care costs for asthma are estimated to total more than $9.4 billion annually, according to the AAAAI. Indirect costs (such as lost productivity from missed work) are estimated to cost another $4.6 billion.
Adults are estimated to miss about 14.5 million work days every year as a result of asthma.
Children are estimated to collectively miss more than 14 million school days a year due to asthma.
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