Asthma Trends and Burden

Asthma Mortality

• In 2016, 3,518 people died from asthma.
• The asthma death rate decreased 41 percent from 1.7 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 1.0 in 2016, although progress has slowed since 2007.
• In 2016, 61 percent of asthma deaths were in women, and the asthma death rate was 32 percent higher among women than men.
• The asthma death rate was 2.8 times greater among Blacks than Whites in 2016.  

  Trends in Asthma Mortality by Sex and Race/Ethnicity

  	Total		Male		Female		White		Non-Hispanic Black		Other		Hispanic
  Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
  1999	4,657	1.7	1,620	1.3	3,037	2.0	3,011	1.4	1,134	4.0	179	1.4	320	1.4
  2000	4,487	1.6	1,632	1.3	2,855	1.8	2,836	1.3	1,145	3.9	183	1.3	292	1.3
  2001	4,269	1.5	1,479	1.2	2,790	1.8	2,717	1.2	1,092	3.7	167	1.2	274	1.2
  2002	4,261	1.5	1,580	1.2	2,681	1.7	2,720	1.2	1,083	3.5	147	1.2	287	1.2
  2003	4,099	1.4	1,493	1.2	2,606	1.6	2,589	1.1	1,019	3.2	178	1.1	299	1.1
  2004	3,816	1.3	1,386	1.1	2,430	1.5	2,377	1.0	1,001	3.2	146	1.0	281	1.0
  2005	3,884	1.3	1,315	1.0	2,569	1.5	2,475	1.1	1,002	3.1	149	1.1	248	1.1
  2006	3,613	1.2	1,296	1.0	2,317	1.4	2,246	1.0	943	2.8	154	1.0	257	1.0
  2007	3,447	1.1	1,274	0.9	2,173	1.2	2,151	0.9	893	2.6	163	0.9	239	0.9
  2008	3,397	1.1	1,186	0.8	2,211	1.2	2,070	0.9	892	2.5	153	0.9	271	0.9
  2009	3,388	1.1	1,220	0.8	2,168	1.2	2,012	0.8	905	2.5	159	0.8	302	0.8
  2010	3,404	1.0	1,283	0.9	2,121	1.2	2,082	0.9	862	2.4	155	0.9	292	0.9
  2011	3,345	1.0	1,262	0.8	2,083	1.1	2,023	0.8	899	2.4	171	0.8	244	0.8
  2012	3,531	1.0	1,357	0.9	2,174	1.2	2,159	0.9	948	2.5	136	0.9	277	0.9
  2013	3,630	1.1	1,410	0.9	2,220	1.2	2,100	0.8	991	2.6	204	0.8	327	0.8
  2014	3,651	1.1	1,392	0.9	2,259	1.2	2,163	0.9	991	2.5	182	0.9	301	0.9
  2015	3,615	1.0	1,388	0.9	2,227	1.1	2,119	0.8	966	2.4	195	0.8	305	0.8
  2016	3,518	1.0	1,356	0.8	2,162	1.1	2,042	0.8	951	2.3	174	0.8	334	0.8
  Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate

  Sources:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. CDC Wonder On-line Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File 1999-2016 Series 20 No. 2U, 2019.

  • Age-adjusted rates are per 100,000 population and should be used for comparisons as they account for important underlying differences between populations.
  • Deaths are coded by the 10th revision of International Classification of Diseases, codes J45-J46.
• Both the number and rate of deaths from asthma are much greater among older age groups. Fortunately, death rates have been decreasing among those ages 45-64 and 65 years and older.  

  Trends in Asthma Mortality by Age

  	<5		5-14		15-44		45-64		65+
  Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
  1999	32	0.2	126	0.3	891	0.7	1,190	2.0	2,418	6.9
  2000	40	0.2	129	0.3	874	0.7	1,154	1.9	2,290	6.5
  2001	41	0.2	99	0.2	828	0.7	1,156	1.8	2,145	6.1
  2002	47	0.2	123	0.3	876	0.7	1,144	1.7	2,070	5.8
  2003	44	0.2	110	0.3	796	0.6	1,194	1.7	1,955	5.5
  2004	36	0.2	105	0.3	732	0.6	1,082	1.5	1,861	5.1
  2005	41	0.2	97	0.2	707	0.6	1,115	1.5	1,924	5.3
  2006	32	0.2	99	0.2	702	0.6	1,058	1.4	1,722	4.6
  2007	45	0.2	107	0.3	654	0.5	999	1.3	1,640	4.3
  2008	43	0.2	112	0.3	631	0.5	967	1.2	1,644	4.2
  2009	43	0.2	114	0.3	674	0.5	1,021	1.3	1,536	3.9
  2010	37	0.2	119	0.3	645	0.5	1,084	1.3	1,519	3.8
  2011	41	0.2	128	0.3	647	0.5	1,038	1.3	1,491	3.6
  2012	39	0.2	113	0.3	685	0.5	1,153	1.4	1,540	3.6
  2013	38	0.2	145	0.4	718	0.6	1,133	1.4	1,596	3.6
  2014	31	0.2	130	0.3	801	0.6	1,163	1.4	1,526	3.3
  2015	28	0.1	161	0.4	763	0.6	1,119	1.3	1,544	3.2
  2016	35	0.2	134	0.3	798	0.6	1,115	1.3	1,436	2.9
  Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate

  Sources:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. CDC Wonder On-line Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File 1999-2016 Series 20 No. 2U, 2019.

  • Death rates are age-specific and per 100,000 population.
  • Deaths are coded by the 10th revision of International Classification of Diseases, codes J45-J46.

Asthma Prevalence

Lifetime Asthma Prevalence

• In 2018, 41.9 million Americans, or 13.0 percent, had ever been diagnosed with asthma by a health professional.
• This was an increase of 43 percent from 9.1 percent in 1999.
• Adults ages 18-55 years had the highest lifetime prevalence rates compared to other age groups at 14.7 percent in 2018.
• Females (14.1%) were about 10 percent more likely than males (11.8%) to ever have been diagnosed with asthma in 2018.
• Blacks are generally more likely than other races and ethnicities to be diagnosed with asthma over their lifetime. In 2018 they had the second-highest lifetime prevalence rate at 16.1 percent.
• At 14.9 percent, those with some college had the highest lifetime prevalence rate compared to other education levels in 2018.  

  Trends in Lifetime Asthma Rate by Age, Sex and Race/Ethnicity

  	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
  																				Rate	Count (thousands)
  Total	9.1%	10.1%	11.3%	11.1%	10.4%	10.5%	11.2%	11.6%	11.5%	12.9%	13.2%	12.9%	12.9%	13.0%	12.0%	12.9%	12.7%	13.6%	13.3%	13.0%	41,935
  Age
  <5	7.0%	7.8%	7.9%	7.3%	7.5%	7.3%	8.6%	7.5%	8.0%	7.2%	7.9%	8.0%	8.3%	7.0%	5.9%	5.6%	5.7%	5.1%	5.6%	4.9%	963
  5-17	12.2%	14.0%	14.4%	14.0%	14.3%	14.0%	14.2%	15.7%	15.0%	16.4%	16.1%	15.8%	16.3%	16.6%	15.2%	16.4%	15.7%	15.6%	15.7%	14.1%	7,572
  18-44	9.3%	9.8%	11.8%	11.5%	10.1%	9.9%	11.2%	11.5%	11.7%	13.5%	14.3%	13.6%	13.6%	13.4%	12.2%	14.0%	13.5%	15.3%	14.8%	14.7%	16,932
  45-64	8.0%	8.7%	10.4%	10.6%	9.8%	9.9%	10.5%	10.5%	10.4%	12.0%	12.3%	12.1%	12.2%	12.7%	12.1%	12.1%	12.7%	13.7%	13.0%	12.6%	10,458
  65+	6.5%	8.4%	8.7%	8.0%	8.1%	9.7%	9.9%	10.6%	9.7%	11.0%	11.3%	11.1%	10.4%	10.4%	10.3%	10.9%	10.3%	10.9%	11.1%	11.7%	6,010
  Sex
  Male	8.7%	9.9%	10.8%	10.6%	9.7%	10.2%	10.3%	11.1%	11.0%	12.2%	12.6%	11.9%	12.1%	12.1%	11.3%	12.0%	11.9%	12.7%	12.6%	11.8%	18,627
  Female	9.5%	10.3%	11.9%	11.6%	11.1%	10.8%	12.1%	12.1%	12.0%	13.5%	13.9%	13.9%	13.8%	13.8%	12.7%	13.9%	13.5%	14.5%	14.0%	14.1%	23,309
  Race/Ethnicity
  White	9.1%	10.2%	11.5%	11.1%	10.3%	10.5%	11.2%	11.7%	11.4%	12.9%	13.3%	12.6%	12.6%	13.0%	12.0%	12.8%	12.8%	13.7%	13.6%	13.1%	25,869
  Black	10.3%	11.4%	12.4%	13.8%	12.8%	13.0%	13.4%	13.3%	13.0%	15.7%	16.3%	17.0%	16.6%	16.7%	14.8%	16.0%	15.2%	17.0%	15.2%	16.1%	6,732
  Asian	18.0%	10.9%	14.3%	14.1%	17.3%	15.2%	12.6%	16.8%	13.7%	18.8%	14.4%	11.6%	21.8%	18.1%	12.3%	17.4%	16.1%	15.5%	13.4%	8.3%	1,634
  American Indian/Alaska Native	5.4%	7.3%	7.8%	8.6%	6.0%	6.4%	8.5%	9.3%	8.9%	8.7%	9.5%	9.9%	8.6%	7.6%	7.4%	9.2%	7.7%	9.5%	8.8%	18.1%	610
  Hispanic	8.0%	8.2%	9.5%	8.3%	8.8%	8.4%	9.2%	9.8%	10.2%	10.1%	11.0%	10.9%	11.5%	11.1%	10.4%	11.6%	11.1%	11.4%	12.0%	11.7%	6,945
  Education
  Less Than High School	8.2%	9.2%	10.2%	9.6%	10.2%	10.8%	10.3%	10.9%	10.1%	11.3%	12.9%	11.6%	12.2%	11.5%	11.3%	11.6%	11.6%	11.7%	12.3%	11.4%	2,823
  High School Diploma or GED	7.7%	7.9%	9.5%	9.3%	8.4%	8.6%	9.1%	9.5%	9.2%	11.0%	11.2%	10.3%	11.7%	11.0%	10.6%	11.0%	12.0%	12.5%	11.9%	11.1%	5,836
  Some College	8.4%	9.8%	11.2%	11.3%	10.5%	10.8%	11.4%	12.3%	11.8%	13.1%	14.2%	14.0%	13.0%	13.9%	12.5%	13.6%	13.9%	14.8%	14.7%	14.9%	9,359
  Bachelors Degree or Higher	7.5%	8.7%	10.2%	9.9%	8.9%	9.3%	10.4%	10.0%	10.8%	11.5%	11.9%	12.1%	11.3%	11.8%	11.4%	11.9%	11.3%	13.1%	12.7%	12.4%	9,802
  	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018

  Source:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey, 2001-2018. Harmonized by Minnesota Population Center and State Health Access Data Assistance Center. Integrated Health Interview Series data analyzed by the American Lung Association Research and Program Services Division.

  • Lifetime prevalence is defined as answering yes to "Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that you had asthma?"
  • Education categories include only adults ages 25 years and older.

Current Asthma Prevalence

• In 2018, 24.8 million Americans, or 7.7 percent, had ever been diagnosed with asthma by a health professional and reported that they still had asthma.
• From 2001 to 2010, current asthma prevalence rates increased at a statistically-significant average rate of 0.1 points per year. From 2010 to 2018, the average change per year has not been statistically significantly different and has remained flat.  

  Trends in Current Asthma Rate by Age, Sex and Race/Ethnicity

  	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
  																		Rate	Count (thousands)
  Total	7.4%	7.2%	7.0%	7.1%	7.7%	7.8%	7.7%	7.8%	8.2%	8.5%	8.5%	8.3%	7.3%	7.7%	7.8%	8.3%	7.9%	7.7%	24,753
  Age
  <5	5.7%	6.0%	5.9%	5.6%	6.8%	5.8%	6.8%	6.2%	6.3%	6.0%	6.9%	5.4%	4.2%	4.3%	4.7%	3.8%	4.4%	3.8%	744
  5-17	9.8%	9.2%	9.5%	9.6%	9.7%	10.7%	10.0%	10.7%	11.0%	10.7%	10.6%	10.7%	9.9%	10.2%	9.8%	10.0%	9.9%	8.9%	4,786
  18-44	7.2%	6.9%	6.3%	6.4%	7.0%	7.3%	7.2%	7.2%	7.6%	8.1%	8.0%	8.1%	6.7%	7.5%	7.5%	8.1%	7.5%	7.2%	8,315
  45-64	6.7%	7.1%	6.9%	7.0%	7.3%	7.5%	7.2%	7.5%	7.8%	8.4%	8.7%	8.4%	7.8%	7.6%	8.4%	9.2%	8.5%	8.3%	6,880
  65+	6.0%	5.9%	5.8%	7.0%	7.6%	7.0%	7.5%	7.2%	7.7%	8.1%	7.6%	7.0%	6.3%	6.9%	6.6%	7.4%	7.0%	7.8%	4,029
  Sex
  Male	6.4%	6.2%	5.9%	6.4%	6.4%	7.0%	6.5%	7.1%	7.0%	7.0%	7.2%	7.0%	6.2%	6.3%	6.5%	6.9%	6.4%	6.2%	9,786
  Female	8.3%	8.1%	8.0%	7.9%	8.8%	8.6%	8.9%	8.5%	9.3%	9.9%	9.7%	9.5%	8.3%	9.0%	9.1%	9.7%	9.3%	9.1%	14,967
  Race/Ethnicity
  White	7.4%	7.2%	6.9%	7.3%	7.6%	7.9%	7.6%	7.8%	8.1%	8.1%	8.2%	8.1%	7.4%	7.6%	7.8%	8.3%	8.1%	7.7%	15,122
  Black	8.5%	9.6%	9.2%	9.2%	9.7%	9.1%	10.0%	10.3%	11.1%	12.1%	11.6%	11.9%	9.9%	9.9%	10.3%	11.6%	10.1%	10.9%	4,522
  Asian	4.7%	4.4%	2.8%	3.4%	4.7%	5.6%	4.1%	4.6%	5.2%	5.7%	5.2%	4.6%	3.7%	4.8%	4.2%	5.5%	4.4%	4.0%	785
  American Indian/Alaska Native	8.4%	10.6%	12.3%	9.5%	8.5%	11.0%	9.0%	14.3%	9.9%	10.0%	16.5%	11.2%	7.1%	13.7%	11.6%	11.4%	9.6%	12.0%	405
  Hispanic	5.9%	4.9%	5.5%	5.2%	6.2%	6.4%	6.8%	5.8%	6.3%	7.3%	7.3%	7.0%	5.9%	6.7%	6.6%	6.6%	6.4%	6.4%	3,814
  Education
  Less Than High School	6.9%	6.8%	7.5%	8.0%	8.1%	8.2%	7.8%	8.0%	9.3%	8.2%	8.5%	8.7%	7.2%	7.9%	8.3%	8.3%	8.4%	8.5%	2,092
  High School Diploma or GED	6.1%	6.2%	5.7%	6.1%	6.5%	6.7%	6.4%	6.5%	7.1%	7.3%	8.4%	7.3%	7.0%	7.0%	7.1%	8.5%	7.7%	6.7%	3,484
  Some College	7.1%	7.4%	6.9%	7.2%	8.0%	8.1%	8.3%	7.5%	8.3%	9.6%	8.8%	8.8%	7.6%	7.9%	8.4%	9.0%	8.7%	8.8%	5,509
  Bachelors Degree or Higher	6.2%	6.1%	5.5%	6.0%	6.3%	6.3%	6.5%	6.2%	6.6%	7.0%	7.1%	6.9%	6.2%	6.6%	6.8%	7.2%	6.8%	6.8%	5,349
  	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018

  Source:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey, 2001-2018. Harmonized by Minnesota Population Center and State Health Access Data Assistance Center. Integrated Health Interview Series data analyzed by the American Lung Association Research and Program Services Division.

  • Current prevalence was defined as answering "yes" to both "Have you EVER been told by a health professional that you had asthma?" and "Do you still have asthma?"
  • Education categories include only adults ages 25 years and older.
• Children ages 5-17 years had the highest current prevalence rates compared to other age groups at 8.9 percent in 2018.
• Females (9.1%) were about 46 percent more likely than males (6.2%) to still have asthma in 2018.

Asthma Attack Prevalence

• In 2018, 11.9 million, or 48.2 percent of those ever diagnosed with asthma by a health professional and still had asthma had at least one asthma attack.
• This proportion was a decrease of 14 percent from 56.3 percent in 2001.
• Children less than 5 years of age had the highest attack rates compared to other age groups at 75.4 percent in 2018.
• Females (50.3%) were 12 percent more likely than males (44.8%) to have had an asthma attack in 2018.
• Estimates of asthma attack rates are not accurate for some racial and ethnic groups for single years due to small sample sizes. To allow for accurate comparisons between groups, we combined five years of data and found that in 2014 to 2018, asthma attack rates were very similar for most racial and ethnic groups, although slightly lower for American Indians and Alaska Natives:
  • Hispanics – 45.6 percent
  • Whites – 45.7 percent
  • Asians – 46.0 percent
  • Blacks – 45.1 percent
  • American Indians/Alaska Natives – 39.4 percent
• Asthma attack rates in 2018 were highest for those with some college (49.5%) and less than high school (49.1%), lower for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and lowest among those with a high school diploma or GED.

  Trends in Asthma Attack Rate by Age, Sex and Race/Ethnicity

  	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
  																		Rate	Count (thousands)
  Total	56.3%	56.6%	53.8%	54.3%	53.2%	52.0%	51.7%	52.6%	49.5%	51.6%	49.1%	50.7%	49.9%	44.7%	46.9%	46.9%	45.6%	48.2%	11,921
  Age
  <5	70.7%	77.3%	69.7%	65.1%	60.8%	69.9%	59.0%	64.4%	66.2%	68.3%	60.9%	60.8%	66.5%	56.5%	60.6%	62.4%	58.7%	75.4%	561
  5-17	59.8%	61.9%	61.0%	60.4%	55.6%	53.2%	53.7%	55.6%	51.1%	56.1%	54.1%	54.2%	56.6%	46.7%	45.2%	52.5%	50.4%	53.7%	2,570
  18-44	56.2%	55.0%	51.8%	51.8%	55.8%	50.0%	51.0%	52.0%	50.1%	48.5%	46.6%	49.4%	46.8%	41.8%	46.7%	41.1%	38.9%	43.2%	3,596
  45-64	54.4%	51.0%	51.4%	54.8%	53.1%	56.4%	52.6%	53.4%	49.4%	53.6%	49.5%	53.4%	51.7%	48.8%	49.8%	52.3%	50.7%	50.9%	3,504
  65+	43.2%	49.9%	38.8%	42.5%	37.7%	37.5%	44.3%	40.5%	36.9%	41.6%	40.7%	37.8%	36.5%	37.8%	39.4%	38.7%	40.6%	42.0%	1,690
  Sex
  Male	54.1%	55.1%	52.7%	55.2%	51.5%	47.3%	48.9%	50.1%	47.7%	49.8%	45.9%	49.8%	46.8%	43.0%	41.9%	44.8%	42.2%	44.8%	4,387
  Female	57.9%	57.7%	54.6%	53.6%	54.5%	55.7%	53.6%	54.7%	50.8%	52.9%	51.4%	51.3%	52.2%	45.9%	50.3%	48.4%	47.8%	50.3%	7,534
  Race/Ethnicity
  White	55.7%	56.0%	52.8%	53.9%	53.8%	51.9%	51.3%	51.5%	48.9%	52.0%	49.8%	50.7%	50.4%	44.1%	46.6%	46.7%	45.5%	48.9%	7,398
  Black	60.6%	56.9%	53.3%	56.1%	45.3%	49.7%	49.8%	52.1%	48.1%	47.7%	50.3%	51.5%	49.5%	46.5%	44.0%	48.5%	41.6%	45.4%	2,052
  Asian	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	59.5%	57.2%	50.7%	44.5%	51.2%	41.9%	48.3%	--	52.6%	--	--
  American Indian/Alaska Native	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
  Hispanic	54.7%	57.7%	56.5%	54.1%	56.7%	55.0%	57.4%	55.3%	50.3%	51.4%	45.9%	52.1%	47.4%	43.9%	49.1%	46.7%	46.7%	45.7%	1,744
  Education
  Less Than High School	54.0%	51.6%	48.3%	54.3%	53.2%	49.3%	55.4%	55.5%	49.3%	49.2%	46.9%	53.4%	40.4%	48.3%	47.7%	46.2%	43.6%	49.1%	1,028
  High School Diploma or GED	49.2%	53.5%	50.3%	48.4%	49.7%	51.2%	47.2%	45.4%	46.8%	44.7%	45.3%	47.1%	49.7%	46.0%	39.2%	46.8%	44.4%	42.0%	1,463
  Some College	54.5%	55.7%	55.2%	53.4%	53.1%	55.1%	55.8%	55.0%	51.6%	51.5%	49.1%	54.9%	53.6%	48.4%	51.6%	45.0%	45.7%	49.5%	2,727
  Bachelors Degree or Higher	57.4%	50.8%	47.5%	52.1%	52.0%	50.4%	48.8%	52.8%	47.6%	54.5%	50.1%	47.5%	45.0%	38.9%	47.4%	47.6%	43.3%	46.1%	2,467
  	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018

  Source:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey, 2001-2018. Harmonized by Minnesota Population Center and State Health Access Data Assistance Center. Integrated Health Interview Series data analyzed by the American Lung Association Research and Program Services Division.

  • Attack prevalence was defined as answering yes to all of "Have you ever been told by a health professional that you had asthma?," "Do you still have asthma?," and "During the past 12 months, have you had an episode of asthma or asthma attack?"
  • Education categories include only adults ages 25 years and older.
  • --Estimate not reliable due to small sample size.

Missed School and Work Days

• In 2018, 2.2 million children aged 5-17 years missed more than 7.9 million school days.
• In 2018, there were 10.9 million missed work days due to asthma among employed adults ages 18 years and older, and 62.8 million missed days of housework among unemployed adults.

Healthcare Use

Hospitalizations

• In 2016, there were 188,965 hospitalizations with asthma listed as the primary cause, or 58.5 per 100,000 people.
• The asthma hospitalization rate decreased at an average rate of 1.3 points per year from 1993 to 2014, which was statistically significant, or 21 percent overall.
• From 2014 to 2016, a new disease coding system was put in place for hospitalizations. It is likely that the large decrease in asthma hospitalizations was due to this change in coding, although more years of data will be necessary to determine if other factors also contributed.

Emergency Department Visits

• In 2016, there were 1.705 million emergency room visits with asthma listed as the primary cause, or 527.5 per 100,000 people.
• The asthma emergency department visit rate increased at an average rate of 8.2 points per year from 2006 to 2014, which was statistically significant, or 10 percent overall.
• From 2014 to 2016, a new disease coding system was put in place for emergency department visits. It is likely that the decrease in asthma visits was due to this change in coding, although more years of data will be necessary to determine if other factors also contributed.

Economic Cost

• From 2008 to 2013, asthma accounted for $81.9 billion each year in total economic cost in the United States:
  • Health care costs – $50.3 billion per year
  • Mortality – $29.0 billion per year
  • Missed school and work days – $3.0 billion per year