Asthma on rise in Asia from pollution

Asthma on rise in Asia from pollution

Michael Mathes
Agence France-Presse
Bangkok

Asia's rapid urbanization, dangerous pollution levels and poor
medical treatment have triggered an alarming increase in asthma
which affects 300 million people worldwide, experts said on
Tuesday.

The global prevalence of asthma, already the world's largest
respiratory killer, has increased steadily over the past 20 years
due mostly to urban development, particularly in the region.

"This problem is set to worsen as Asian populations become
more urbanized, unless measures are taken now to improve
treatment," the Asia Asthma Development Board (AADB) said at the
World Asthma Meeting held here this week.

Experts at the conference, attended by hundreds of scientists
and doctors, warned that sufferers in Asia are particularly at
risk because doctors are failing to address the chronic
condition.

"Asthma is becoming more of a concern in Asia ... and there is
a growing problem with asthma related to people living in
cities," said Richard Beasley of the Wellington School of
Medicine, who co-authored a global strategy for asthma management
and prevention.

Urgent and immediate attention is needed in the region to
close the widening treatment gap for the growing number of Asian
asthmatics, he said.

While several theories about the cause of asthma are in
circulation, "undoubtedly one of the factors could be the use of
motor vehicles and their emissions," said Eric Bateman, a
professor at the University of Cape Town's Lung Institute.

Control of the condition hinges on preventative treatment
regimes such as inhaled cortico-steroids, but Asian doctors are
often unaware of new medical treatments and control procedures or
are reluctant to use them.

The AADB said that poor treatment standards in the region "are
leading to some of the highest mortality rates in the world;
figures from China suggest that 36.7 of every 100,000 asthma
patients will die."

By comparison, in the United States' the death rate is 5.2 per
100,000 and in Canada 1.6.

Singapore, with 16.1 deaths per 100,000, is also an area of
concern in Asia and highlights the belief that urban areas are
home to abnormally high numbers of asthma sufferers.

Medical professor Nan-Shan Zhong, who heads the China Asthma
Society, cast doubt on the AADB figure for China, but conceded
asthma had reached alarming levels in the world's largest nation.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, asthma prevalence in 13-14
year-olds jumped from 2.7 percent in 1994 to 3.8 percent in 2002,
he said.

"In towns and rural areas, very few doctors know how to treat
asthma patients," he added.

AADB chairman Christopher Lai from Hong Kong said the
condition can be brought to heel.

"It can be completely controlled ... but patients and doctors
have a low expectation of asthma control and many of them do not
realize asthma can be treated to such an extent," he told AFP.

The recent emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS), which killed nearly 800 people and infected 8,000 last
year, and the ongoing bird flu epidemic has dominated health
experts' attention, he said.

Asthma, a chronic condition of the lungs in which airways
become inflamed and swollen, is second to cancer as the major
cause of adult death and disability worldwide, with 180,000
preventable deaths per year, according to the AADB.