Abstract
Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children, affecting 6.9% of children younger than 18 years of age, or 5 million children in the United States [1]. It is the leading cause of school absenteeism, and leads to missed workdays in 36% of parents of school-age asthmatic patients [2]. Americans spend over 10 billion dollars each year on asthma, and as many as 50% of asthma patients spend more than 18% of their family income on asthma therapy [3]. Despite improvements in our understanding of asthma and in delivery systems for asthma medications, the incidence of asthma and of deaths due to asthma is rising. Asthma deaths have doubled for children 14 years of age and younger from 1979 to 1995, with the 50- to 14-year-old group driving this rise in mortality [4]. Asthma must be regarded as a potentially life-threatening disorder, even in mild cases; a recent population-based study in Victoria, British Columbia showed that the majority of asthma deaths occurred in patients who could not be classified as high risk [5]. Seventy-eight percent of parents of asthmatic patients report that asthma has a negative impact on their family; indeed, even in mild cases the disruption of family dynamics, school attendance, and social interactions can be significant [3].
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Economides, A., White, M.V. (2003). Treatment of Asthma in Children. In: Kaliner, M.A. (eds) Current Review of Asthma. Current Medicine Group, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1095-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1095-2_12
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