There are 7.5 million asthma patients in Pakistan and its prevalence has risen by 76 percent during the last 10 years while 57 percent patients have no basic knowledge about asthma or understanding of the treatment.
Professor Dr Kamran Cheema of Service Institute of Medical Sciences disclosed this while briefing newsmen, here on Thursday. 'Five out of every 100 persons in the country suffer from asthma and 30 percent patients suffer from night time symptoms of disease on a regular basis. About 90 percent asthma patients in the country are not leading a normal life as most of them are not aware of the fact that asthma is a manageable disease', he said.
He further said that asthma is one of the most under diagnosed and under treated and common respiratory disease in the world. As many as 300 million people in the world are currently suffering from asthma while asthma is responsible for 180,000 deaths per year across the world. It is estimated that world over the prevalence of asthma has increased approximately 50 percent over the last 10-15 years, he added.
Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) survey report, Dr Cheema said that 2.5 million people died because of asthma and death rate could be increased by 20 percent in next ten years if patients are not properly treated.
Interestingly, prevalence of asthma is considerably more in developed countries as compared to developing countries due to high number of vehicles producing nitrogen oxide, which is also one of the main sources of spread of this disease. However, allergens, molds, dust mites, cockroaches, animal like pets and cats, dander pollens and food are also triggering asthma disease, he added.
To a query, he said that asthma was not curable disease but its impact can be reversed with proper medication. He stressed the need for adopting preventive measures and proper medication to minimise the affects of this inflammatory disease.
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