Americans Spending Record Amount On Asthma Drugs

Government spending figures released on Wednesday have revealed that Americans are spending far more money on Asthma related drugs than they did 10 years ago.

According to government figures in 1998 Americans spent $527 million on Asthma drugs while 2008 numbers shows that number climbing by 400% to $2.5 billion.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality revealed in their own study that the number of drugs prescribed to treat asthma in children doubled from 29 percent during the period running from 1997-1998 to 58 percent from 2007-2008.

The study found that drugs used to control asthma grew from the 1990′s through 2009 from $280 million to $2.1 billion while drugs used to stop immediate symptoms increased from $222 million during the 1990′s to $352 million in 2008.

According to NationalJournal:

Drugs to control asthma include corticosteroids to prevent inflammation, while asthma-reliever drugs include short-acting beta-2 agonists that make breathing easier. Leukotriene drugs help prevent asthma symptoms from occurring in the first place.

Between the late ’90s and 2008, many more asthma patients used inhaled corticosteroids—an increase from 15.5 percent to 40 percent. Use of other drugs also increased—beta agonists from 3 percent to 13 percent, and leukotriene from 3 percent to 34 percent.

But fewer took corticosteroid pills, and annual spending on these pills fell from $25 million to $8 million in 2008 dollars.

According to the CDC nearly 7 million children in the United States suffer from asthma while nearly 8 percent of adults (17.5 million) also suffer from asthma related symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain that increases in spending is likely due to the 4.3 million new cases of asthma diagnosed  from 2001 to 2009.