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01 LOCAL TIME, MAY 4, 2004

New Report Calls for International Effort to Improve Asthma Care

One person in 20 suffers from asthma, a total of 300 million worldwide
The worldwide prevalence of asthma is set to increase further in coming years, according
to a report by international experts released today, World Asthma Day. The Global
Burden of Asthma Report, which details the prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of
asthma in 20 regions around the world, reveals a number of alarming facts about the
burden of this chronic respiratory disease in the world.
A global increase in asthma has occurred in both children and adults in recent decades.
In many areas, the rise of asthma has been seen as communities adopt Western lifestyles
and become urbanized. With the projected increase in the urban proportion of the worlds
population from 45% today to 59% in 2025, the increase in asthma is likely to continue
over the next two decades. It is estimated that there may be an additional 100 million
persons with asthma by 2025.
Today, asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, according to the
Global Burden of Asthma Report. However, the international patterns of asthma
prevalence are not explained by the current knowledge of the causation of asthma.
Research into the causation of asthma, and the efficacy of primary and secondary
intervention strategies, represent key priority areas in the field of asthma research.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by recurrent breathing problems and
symptoms such as breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing. Asthma
symptoms vary over time, and also differ in severity from one individual to another.
When it is not effectively treated, asthma often leads to hospitalization, missed work and
school, limitations on physical activity, sleepless nights and in some cases death.
One of the authors of the Report, Professor Richard Beasley, of the Medical Research
Institute of New Zealand, comments, In many areas of the world, people with asthma do
not have access to basic asthma medications or medical care. Underdiagnosis and
undertreatment of both chronic asthma and asthma attacks increase the burden of the
disease around the world. Even where medications are available and affordable, asthma
management often does not meet international guidelines, continues Professor Beasley.

It is estimated that asthma accounts for about 1 in every 250 deaths worldwide. Many of
the deaths are preventable, being due to suboptimal long-term medical care and delay in
obtaining help during the final attack.
The Global Burden of Asthma Report identifies a number of barriers to reducing the
burden of asthma, as well as actions that can be taken to reduce the burden. In many
countries, resources need to be directed to improve asthma care among disadvantaged
groups with high morbidity, including certain racial groups and those who are poorly
educated, live in large cities, or are poor. Efforts also need to be made to address
preventable factors, such as air pollution and cigarette smoke, that trigger exacerbations
of asthma. These challenges underline the need to raise awareness of asthma throughout
the worldan effort in which World Asthma Day plays an important role, Professor
Beasley adds.
The Global Burden of Asthma Report is a comprehensive survey of the prevalence and
impact of asthma around the world, based on standardized data collected in epidemiology
studies in more than 80 countries. This groundbreaking report has been written by
Richard Beasley, Matthew Masoli, Denise Fabian, and Shaun Holt, of the Medical
Research Institute of New Zealand and the University of Southampton in the UK. Initial
results of the Report were released on World Asthma Day 2003; the Report is being
released in full today.
The Report was commissioned by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), an effort
launched in 1993 to work with healthcare professionals and public health officials around
the world to reduce the burden of asthma. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management
of asthma prepared by GINA have been adapted for use in a variety of settings around the
world, illustrating how asthma management programs can be tailored to fit the local
culture and level of resources available.
GINA also sponsors World Asthma Day, held each year on the first Tuesday in May. This
event aims to raise awareness of asthma around the world and encourage individual
countries to take urgent action and make asthma a major health priority within their own
regions.
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