A frightening set of numbers

• Asthma is classified by the Centers for Disease Control as a major public health problem.
• Nearly one in 13 Americans has asthma.
• Asthma is the most common chronically disabling disease of childhood. .
• In U. S. cities, poor children are three to five times more likely to have severe attacks, be hospitalized, or die from asthma.
• More Americans have asthma than have diabetes, cystic fibrosis, breast cancer or Parkinson's.
• In 2004, asthma was the cause of 14.5 million missed workdays.
• Asthma accounts for close to 1.8 million emergency room visits and approximately 500,000 hospital stays a year.
• Healthcare costs totaled $11.5 billion in 2004.