Examining the Childhood Asthma Epidemic

Nearly 8 million American children suffer from asthma—more than twice the number of cases from 15 years ago. What causes asthma and how can you keep this chronic disease from ruling your child’s life?

Asthma, says Nancy Sander, is “a thief, a deceiver, a disease with a thousand different faces.”

Does Your Child
Have Asthma?
Learn how to help your little one manage this chronic condition.

Sander founded Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) in 1985 in response to her daughter Brooke’s struggles to breathe. Since then, she has learned that the disease – chronic inflammation of the bronchial airways – can be a mild inconvenience, a controllable challenge, a life-changing ordeal or even a death sentence.

About 7.7 million American children have been diagnosed with asthma, according to the American Lung Association (ALA). Of those, 3.8 million suffer an attack, or episode, each year and 350 die. The disease is the nation’s number one chronic health condition causing school absences and pediatric hospitalizations. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reports that rates have doubled in the United States and other developed countries in the past 15 years. The highest number of new cases occurs in children under 5 years old.
____________________________________________________________________
p.1 l next: p.2 - What is Asthma?

p.3 - What Causes Asthma?
p.4 - Why Are Asthma Rates Rising?
p.5 - Living with Asthma

Articles Tools

Top