Asthma in Australia
October 18, 2011
WHILST the rates of Australian
asthmatics have dropped over the
past ten years there is still much
work to be done, according to a new
Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW) report.
The Asthma in Australia study
found that between 2001 and
2007-08 the prevalence of asthma
declined in people aged between
five and 35 by over 25%.
Asthma figures during this period
however remained stable in adults
aged 35 years and over.
Interestingly, mortality rates due
to asthma between 1997 and 2009
were also found to have dropped
by an impressive 45%.
“Despite these improvements,
asthma prevalence and mortality
rates in Australia remain high on
an international scale,” said lead
author, Professor Guy Marks,
Director of the Australian Centre
for Asthma Monitoring at the
Woolcock Institute of Medical
Research in Sydney.
Based on figures from 2007-08,
around one in ten Australians have
asthma, with researchers finding
that “overall levels of asthma
symptoms and frequency of
dispensing reliever medication in
the Australian community are
higher than is consistent with good
asthma control”.
Worryingly, the report found that
Australians with asthma also
smoke at least as much as people
with asthma, despite the known
adverse effects, and that the
condition is more common among
Indigenous Australians than
among other Australians,
particularly in adults.
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