More than one-in-five children suffer from asthma

ASTHMA rates have increased dramatically over the past decade and the condition now affects more than one in five Irish children.

Research carried out by medics at St James’ Hospital and Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) shows the prevalence of asthma among Irish children is one of the highest in the world.

It warns that an “asthma epidemic” is developing among children here and calls on the Government to invest more funding for research into why this is happening.

The research, published in this month’s Irish Medical Journal (IMJ) shows 21.6% of Irish children have been diagnosed with and are treated for asthma, compared to 15% in 1995.

The condition is more common in males, with almost a quarter of all boys suffering from asthma.

The report said the cause of the increase is not known, but said it may be because more milder forms of the condition are being diagnosed now, compared with 12 years ago.

“While asthma has a genetic basis, the increasing rise in asthma rates is unlikely to be explained by genetic factors and may reflect other issues such as changing but unexplained environment factors, or an increased awareness of the condition particularly in milder disease,” the report said.

Separate research published in October shows that Irish children with asthma miss an average of ten school days a year as a result of the disease. There are more than 25,000 visits to accident and emergency wards every year as a result of asthma.

The latest figures available, from 2003, show the disease costs the State €227 million a year. The report in the IMJ suggests that the social and economic consequences will become greater.

“Since asthma can be a persisting and recurring health problem, the results reported in this paper indicating high and rising rates of asthma in Ireland, raises important public health concerns.

There is the likelihood of increased health, social and economic costs for these children, their families and the Irish healthcare system in caring for them into the future, and thus necessitates a strong governmental and Health Service Executive (HSE) response to this rising ‘asthma epidemic’ in children with targeted funding for asthma research into this problem which, to date, has been scarce and very limited, the authors said.