Rising Tide of Asthma

[GregoryJoseph]

Doctor -

It seems like there are more and more people with asthma these days. I know quite a few who have to walk around with an inhaler and take medication, especially when the humidity levels are extremely high.

What is causing such problems with our breathing? Is it genetic, is it a virus that attacks the bronchial passages, is it pollution, etc?

[Dr Steve]

Doctor -

It seems like there are more and more people with asthma these days. I know quite a few who have to walk around with an inhaler and take medication, especially when the humidity levels are extremely high.

What is causing such problems with our breathing? Is it genetic, is it a virus that attacks the bronchial passages, is it pollution, etc?


Indeed, your old pal Dr Steve now uses a Combivent inhaler during the spring and fall and NEVER had a problem with asthma before.

From the CDC:
* Number of noninstitutionalized adults who currently have asthma: 16.2 million
* Percent of noninstitutionalized adults who currently have asthma: 7.3%

From MD Consult:
asthma’s prevalence as a secondary diagnosis has increased by 54% in hospitalized children and by 113% in hospitalized adults, based on approximately 9 years of data from two large administrative health care databases in the United States.

No one knows exactly why this is, if it's the "Hygiene Hypothesis" again (that we lead TOO clean lives and our kids aren't exposed to antigens early so they're sensitive to them later in life) or some dumbass foreign pollen that's getting into our air from the jet stream, or whatever.

But you're very perceptive, Asthma is indeed on the rise. More as it comes out.