NAC Student Resources

Asthma Facts 

• Over 2.2 million Australians have asthma.
• People with asthma experience episodes of wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath due to narrowing of the airways within the lungs.
• Asthma tends to be long-lasting but the symptoms may occur frequently or only occasionally.
• The prevalence of asthma in Australia is relatively high, by international standards.
• More boys than girls have asthma. However, after teenage years, asthma is more common in women than in men.
• Written instructions on how to recognise when asthma is getting worse and what action to take when it does get worse can help many people control their asthma and stay out of hospital. These instructions are known as Asthma Action Plans.
• People with asthma rate their health lower than people without asthma.¹
• A greater proportion of people with asthma had days away from work or study in the last two weeks (11.4%) than people without asthma (7.9%) preceding a survey.¹
• Of all people with asthma, 2.6% had taken days away from work or study and 3.2% reported other days of reduced activity in the two weeks preceding a survey.¹
• The risk of dying from asthma increases with age. The majority of deaths occur in people aged 65 years and over.¹
• 402 people died from asthma in 2006 – the latest figures.²

References

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006. Causes of Death: Australia, Cat. No. 3303.0

 Managing Asthma

The National Asthma Council has a wide range of information, brochures, papers, programs and other resources providing the latest information on asthma to health professionals, people with asthma and their carers. Two key areas are as follows:

	Asthma Management Handbook 2006 Reflects the constant evolution of asthma management philosophy, techniques and knowledge including a paediatric asthma management section.
	Spirometry: The Measurement and Interpretation of Ventilatory Function in Clinical Practice. Written as a guide for those involved in the performance and interpretation of spirometry in clinical practice as introductory information. (First published 1995, revised July 2004
	Spirometer Users' and Buyers' Guide The guide aims to give GPs and others performing lung function testing all the essentials on fundamental aspects of lung function testing and spirometer purchase.
	Performing Spirometry in General Practice Online video with Associate Professor John Wilson and Mr Bruce Thompson from The Alfred Hospital presenting the role of spirometry in the general practice setting for the diagnosis and management of asthma
	Asthma and influenza While some respiratory infections – such as the common cold – are generally easy to recover from, others like influenza can result in serious illness and even death. This is particularly the case for people who have underlying medical conditions such as asthma.

Asthma Information

Australian asthma information is available in comprehensive reports released by the Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring.

	Asthma in Australia 2005 (2.4 MB PDF File) (http://www.asthmamonitoring.org/PDF/aia05.pdf) Comprehensive information on the number of people who have asthma, who receive various treatments for asthma, who have written asthma action plans, and who visit their GP, are hospitalised or die due to asthma. More...
	Health care expenditure and the burden of disease due to asthma in Australia (492 KB PDF File) (http://www.asthmamonitoring.org/PDF/ACAM_Costs_Report_July_2005.pdf) The report provides a summary of two aspects of the economic impact of asthma in Australia: health care expenditure and burden of disease attributable to asthma-related disability and premature mortality. More...
	Measuring the impact of asthma on quality of life in the Australian population (929 KB PDF File) (http://www.asthmamonitoring.org/PDF/Asthma_QoL05.pdf) The report provides a comprehensive review of approaches to measuring the impact of asthma on quality of life that can be used in population-based monitoring.