Asthma
This report covers the prevalence of asthma and the management and control of asthma symptoms in adults and children. The prevalence of asthma symptoms and of controlled and uncontrolled asthma are presented, and examined by household income, area deprivation, cigarette smoking status and e-cigarette use, exposure to other people’s smoke, and residence in urban or rural areas.
Highlights
- In 2018, 17% of men and 18% of women had ever had asthma diagnosed. A higher proportion of younger people reported diagnosed asthma (21% of adults aged 25 to 34) than those in older age groups (13% of adults aged 75 and over).
- More women than men had current asthma (11% and 9% respectively). This includes 8% of women and 5% of men who reported that they had experienced symptoms of asthma in the last 12 months (uncontrolled asthma) and 4% of women and 3% of men who reported that their asthma symptoms were controlled by medication in that period (controlled asthma).
- The proportion of adults with current asthma varied by income, especially among women. Those in the lowest income households were more likely to have current asthma (10% of men and 15% of women) than those in the highest income households (9% of men and 8% of women).
- Among women with current asthma, those in low-income households, those reporting any exposure to other people’s smoke, and those with some reported health problems were more likely to have uncontrolled asthma, after other factors were accounted for.
- More boys than girls had diagnosed asthma (12% and 7% respectively). Older children were more likely than younger children to have diagnosed asthma (16% of children aged 10 to 12 and 14% of children aged 13 to 15, compared with 7% of children aged 0 to 9).
- The proportion of children aged 0 to 15 with diagnosed asthma decreased by 10 percentage points from 20% in 2001/02 to 10% in 2018.
Download the tables for this report here.