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US Pharm. 2012;37(7):7.
According to the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, Americans
aged at least 18 years had these disorders: emphysema (2%), asthma
(12.7%), hay fever (7.8%), sinusitis (13%), or chronic bronchitis (CB)
(4.3%). More women than men had asthma (14.5% vs. 10.8%), hay fever
(8.5% vs. 6.6%), sinusitis (15.5% vs. 9.8%), or CB (5.3% vs. 3%), but
more men had emphysema (2.1% vs. 1.6%). Asian adults had less sinusitis,
CB, or asthma (7.8%, 1.3%, and 9%, respectively) than African American
(14.3%, 4%, and 15.3%) and white adults (12.8%, 4.3%, and 12.4%). The
percentage of adults with sinusitis (15.6%) was higher in the southern
United States than in any other region. In 2001, asthma affected 7.3% of
Americans; by 2010, the percentage was 8.2%, equating to 25.7 million
cases. Females (9.2%) had a higher prevalence than males (7%).
Race: Individuals of multiple race had the
highest asthma prevalence (14.1%), and Asian individuals had the lowest
rate (5.2%). Blacks (11.2%) and American Indian/Alaska Natives (9.4%)
had a higher rate of asthma than whites (7.7%). Hispanic adults had
lower rates of asthma, hay fever, emphysema, and CB (6.9%, 4.8%, 1%, 3%,
respectively) than non-Hispanic white (8%, 8.4%, 2%, 4.6%) and
non-Hispanic black adults (10.6% 6.3%, 1.2%, 4%). Hispanic adults were
less likely than non-Hispanic black adults to have sinusitis (9.1% vs.
14.3%). Compared with other female and male single-race groups, white
non-Hispanic women (16.7%) and black non-Hispanic women (16.2%) were
most likely to suffer from sinusitis. More non-Hispanic white women
(9.2%) had hay fever, compared with other female and male single-race
groups.
Health Care Utilization: Although from 2001 to 2009
fewer patients with asthma went to primary care settings for health care
services, the number of emergency department (ED) visits and the number
of asthma patients who were hospitalized did not change appreciably.
From 2007 to 2009, more black patients than white patients visited the
ED for asthma.
Insurance: Adults in poor versus nonpoor families had
higher rates of emphysema (2.8% vs. 1.4%), asthma (15.4% vs. 12.3%), and
CB (6.7% vs. 3.6%). In adults aged under 65 years, those insured by
Medicaid had higher rates of emphysema, asthma, and CB (2.9%, 13.9%,
8.1%, respectively) than those who had private insurance (0.6%, 7.7%,
3.1%) or were uninsured (1%, 6.6%, 3.3%). Similarly, among adults aged
65 years and older, those insured by Medicaid and Medicare had higher
rates of emphysema, asthma, and CB (9%, 16.7%, 11.7%, respectively) than
those who had only Medicare (5%, 7.2%, 5.4%) or private insurance
(5.6%, 7.6%, 5.4%).
To comment on this article, contact rdavidson@uspharmacist.com.
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