Asthma

Asthma morbidity in the U.S. is at an all-time high, as suggested by a nationally representative study of kindergarten-age children born in 2001: nearly one in five (18%) kindergartners had asthma, while 7% had been either hospitalized or taken to an emergency room for asthma-related reasons. The CDC’s somewhat lower estimate suggests that one in ten children have asthma, but the agency’s figures are much higher for some subgroups, such as non-Hispanic black children (17%). Researchers have posited that the growing prevalence of asthma may be an indicator of “increased population risk for the development of other chronic non-communicable autoimmune diseases.”

Child’s Asthma Death Linked to Illegal Levels of Air Pollution

The repeated hospital admissions of a girl who died in an asthma attack at the age of nine show a “striking association” with spikes in illegal levels of air pollution around her home in London, legal documents have revealed.

Coke Plant Pollution Linked to “Asthma Epidemic” in Pittsburgh-Area Elementary School

Children at an elementary school 15 miles south of Pittsburgh have roughly double the asthma rates of Pennsylvania children and researchers say consistent toxic pollution from a nearby coke plant is mostly to blame.

Prevention of Asthma: Where Are We in the 21st Century?

Researchers have posited that the growing prevalence of asthma may be an indicator of “increased population risk for the development of other chronic non-communicable autoimmune diseases.”