Nearly 25 million in U.S. have asthma

In 2009, 17.5 million U.S. adults and 7.1 million children had been diagnosed with asthma.

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Reuters

Wed, Jan 12 2011 at 12:52 PM

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AT RISK: Females, children, non-Hispanic blacks, Puerto Ricans, people living below the poverty level, and people in the Northeast and Midwest regions are more likely to have asthma. (Photo: ZUMA Press)

Nearly 25 million Americans have asthma, or just over 8 percent of the population, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Here are some facts about asthma in the United States from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics:

• In 2009, 17.5 million U.S. adults and 7.1 million children had diagnosed asthma.

• Just over 4 percent of the population had at least one asthma attack in the past year, or 12.8 million people.

• Asthma killed 3,447 people in 2007 and 3,395 people in 2008.

• Asthma accounted for 10.5 million lost school days and 14.2 million lost work days in 2008.

• People made 1.75 million visits to emergency rooms because of asthma in 2007, 14 million visits to private doctor offices, and 1.4 million hospital outpatient department visits.

• Females, children, non-Hispanic blacks, Puerto Ricans, people living below the poverty level, and people in the Northeast and Midwest regions are more likely to have asthma.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Comment: 1

Gary Wollenhaupt Feb 01 2011 at 3:05 PM

If you or someone you love suffers from asthma, one way to help is to remove potentially harmful chemicals from your home. Here's some useful info to imrove the indoor air quality in your home.

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