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Asthma statistics
- On average someone in the UK dies of asthma every 6 hours (1,400 per year).
- The UK has now overtaken New Zealand to become the country with the highest prevalence of asthma in the developed world.
- The south coast has the highest prevelance of asthma in the UK. It is thought that this could be partly linked to the warmer weather which encourages some asthma triggers.
- 28,000 of Southampton’s population alone receive regular therapy for asthma.
- Asthma costs the NHS an average of £889 million per year. The total cost of asthma to society is approximately £2,000 million per year.
- Over the last 20 years asthma has become the commonest chronic disease of childhood in Western countries and its prevalence has also increased markedly in adults.
- Asthma treatments now account for 12% of NHS prescriptions.
- Each UK school classroom has, on average, three children who are asthma sufferers.
- One person is admitted to hospital every 8 minutes in England because of their asthma. That's on average 185 people per day and one in six people require further emergency care again within two weeks, yet 75% of admissions for asthma are avoidable and could save the NHS in England an estimated £43.7 million a year.
- 5.2 million people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma: 1.1 million children (1 in 10) and 4.1 million adults (1 in 12).
- If one parent has asthma, the chance of their child developing asthma is approximately double that of children whose parents don't have asthma. Every 19 minutes a child is admitted to hospital in England, Scotland or Wales because of their asthma.
- Smoking during pregnancy brings a 35% increased risk of your baby being wheezy or having breathing difficulties.
- Children whose parents smoke are 1.5 times more likely to develop asthma. Nearly a third of all long-term childhood illnesses are due to doctor-diagnosed asthma.
- Over 12.7 million working days are lost to asthma each year.
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