Epidemiology

The prevalence of asthma in childhood is low in Asia, Northern Africa, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Mediterranean regions (2% to 4%), and higher in South East Asia, North America, and Latin America (29% to 32%).[1][2]

In the US, approximately 6.5% of children younger than 18 years have self-reported current asthma (2021 data).[3] Prevalence of asthma increases with age, affecting 1.9% of children aged 0-4 years, and 8.1% of children aged 5-17 years (2021 data).[3] Among those aged <18 years, asthma rates are higher for males than females (8.3% vs. 6.7%, respectively; 2018 data).[4]​ Decreasing socio-economic status (i.e., increasing poverty and decreasing educational attainment) is associated with an increasing prevalence of asthma and acute asthma.[3]​​[4]

Overall, 38.7% of children <18 years with current asthma have had at least one asthma attack in the preceding 12 months (2021 data).[3] Prevalence of attacks (≥1 asthma attack/year; 2019-2021 data) in children <18 years ranges from 39.3% in black non-Hispanic children to 48.1% among other single and multiple races (non-Hispanic).[3]

Emergency department visits for asthma increased by 10% between 2006 and 2014, while hospitalisations decreased by 21% between 1993 and 2014. In 2016, there was an estimated 1.7 million emergency department visits and 188,965 hospitalisations.[4] Worldwide, increasing hospitalisations for asthma among young children can be attributed to increased severity of disease, poor disease management, and poverty.[2] 

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