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Report urges federal government to “Attack Asthma”
Report Urges Federal Government to "Attack Asthma"
America is in the middle of an asthma epidemic, which is growing worse, not bettel, according to a new report published by the PEW Environmental Health Commission at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. The prevalence of asthma is rising rapidly throughout the country, and if no action is taken to reverse this trend, the commission estimates that 22 million Americans will suffer from a~thma by 2010--an increase of more than 50 percent from today's level. Further estimates predict that the incidence of asthma will double in the next 20 years. The report does not give the federal government high marks for their handling of this epidemic, claiming that the government has failed to implement a strategy to curb the rising rates of asthma. According to the report, the government has placed most of its focus and research budget on treatment, and far too small an amount on efforts to prevent people from getting asthma in the first place. The commission found that in 1999, less than 10 percent of the Health and Human Services' budget for asthma research went toward tracking and prevention of the disease and less than 17 percent went toward studying the factors that cause asthma. The commission makes a number of recommendations for how the government can do a better job in stemming the tide of rising asthma. These include: 9 Implementing better tracking methods for the incidence of asthma by state, environmental exposures and deaths due to asthma 9 Launching primary prevention intervention trials to help scientists learn about environmental risk factors for asthma 9 Initiating a comprehensive public education program campaign on ways that the prevalence and severity of asthma can be reduced MAGAZINE
to s u b s c r i b e
call
1.800.527.3254
The commission warns that if the government fails to take aggressive action of this issue, society will be paying the price, literally. The cost of rampant asthma in the United States is currently at approximately $11 billion, but it is estimated that this will rise to $18 billion by 2020, with $2 billion of that being absorbed by Medicaid and Medicare. Asthma
and
Red
Wine
If you have ever noticed your asthma symptoms worsening after you have settled in for the evening with an alcoholic drink, you are not imagining things. Your drink may be triggering your asthma, and this is a more common occurrence than one might think! It is believed that chemicals found in alcoholic beverages, the most notable being sulfite preservatives, can cause allergic reactions and worsen asthma for some people. A new study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, investigated this premise. The study included 350 asthmatics ranging in age from 18 to 83 years old. The partici-
America is in the middle of an asthma epidemic, which is growing worse, not bettel, according to a new report published by the PEW Environmental Health Commission at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. The prevalence of asthma is rising rapidly throughout the country, and if no action is taken to reverse this trend, the commission estimates that 22 million Americans will suffer from a~thma by 2010--an increase of more than 50 percent from today's level. Further estimates predict that the incidence of asthma will double in the next 20 years. The report does not give the federal government high marks for their handling of this epidemic, claiming that the government has failed to implement a strategy to curb the rising rates of asthma. According to the report, the government has placed most of its focus and research budget on treatment, and far too small an amount on efforts to prevent people from getting asthma in the first place. The commission found that in 1999, less than 10 percent of the Health and Human Services' budget for asthma research went toward tracking and prevention of the disease and less than 17 percent went toward studying the factors that cause asthma. The commission makes a number of recommendations for how the government can do a better job in stemming the tide of rising asthma. These include: 9 Implementing better tracking methods for the incidence of asthma by state, environmental exposures and deaths due to asthma 9 Launching primary prevention intervention trials to help scientists learn about environmental risk factors for asthma 9 Initiating a comprehensive public education program campaign on ways that the prevalence and severity of asthma can be reduced MAGAZINE
to s u b s c r i b e
call
1.800.527.3254
The commission warns that if the government fails to take aggressive action of this issue, society will be paying the price, literally. The cost of rampant asthma in the United States is currently at approximately $11 billion, but it is estimated that this will rise to $18 billion by 2020, with $2 billion of that being absorbed by Medicaid and Medicare. Asthma
and
Red
Wine
If you have ever noticed your asthma symptoms worsening after you have settled in for the evening with an alcoholic drink, you are not imagining things. Your drink may be triggering your asthma, and this is a more common occurrence than one might think! It is believed that chemicals found in alcoholic beverages, the most notable being sulfite preservatives, can cause allergic reactions and worsen asthma for some people. A new study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, investigated this premise. The study included 350 asthmatics ranging in age from 18 to 83 years old. The partici-