Asthma levels: Concern has been raised at the rapid increase in the incindence of asthma in this State, particularly among children. While one in 20 teenagers had asthma in the 1980s, one in five now suffers from this condition.
Some 12.2 per cent of the population has asthma. The State now has the fourth highest number of asthmatics in the world, after Australia, New Zealand and the UK and one of the highest rates of childhood asthma.
Dr Pat Manning, consultant respiratory physician at the Bons Secours Hospital, Dublin, said there was great concern about this rise in the incidence of asthma and the reasons for it.
"It seems to be an environmental problem that we can't really understand, as the level is similar in Britain and Northern Ireland," he said.
He said people were living in the equivalent of heated boxes with little draughts and were being exposed to a growing number of allergens. They were not exercising as much as they should, which also aggravated the condition. "We need to do a lot more research in this area," he said. Dr Manning and some colleagues were interested in working with researchers in Northern Ireland to identity the environmental factors that might be causing the rise, but a lack of funding had not allowed this yet.
The Asthma Society of Ireland (ASI) also expressed concern at the trend. Eibhlín Mulroe, ASI chief executive, said a fresh approach must be taken to the problem. "The services are being provided but there is a huge lack of awareness from people in how to control their asthma," she said.
She was speaking after a new Asthma UK (NI) report expressed concern at the high rate of asthma in Northern Ireland, compared with the rest of the UK. The hospital admission rate for Northern Ireland is 14.4 per 100,000 population, compared with 11.7 in the rest of the UK. Ms Mulroe said the situation in Northern Ireland was broadly similar to the Republic.
There are an estimated 150,000 asthma sufferers in Northern Ireland, equivalent to the population of Co Tyrone. Of these, 35,000 are children.
The report also highlighted people's low confidence in how their treatment could help them. Four out of five said they experienced daily asthma symptoms yet only one in four people expected their medicines to control their asthma. And only half of the people surveyed agreed that National Health Service staff knew how to deal with an emergency. Some 35 per cent of workers said their asthma was getting in the way of their jobs, for example, in lifting or carrying.
Asthma UK Northern Ireland has called for the prioritising of care for the 150,000 people with asthma. It said second-hand smoke was "a menace" as it triggered attacks in over 80 per cent of asthmatics.
"The administration must take urgent action to protect the health and choice of people with asthma and facilitate smoking cessation," the report said.
