The Number Of Asthma Sufferers In The United States Increased 75 Percent - Facts

It has reached epidemic proportions, yet it has gone unrecognized.

* Second-hand smoke from cigarettes has shown a strong, causal role in the development or worsening of asthma, according to the National Academies of Science.

* Children's Medical Center treated 3,000 cases in 2009, three times as many as in 2000. Asthma accounts for 40 percent of admissions to the hospital.

* Black children are three times more likely than whites to have asthma, according to a study by the American Lung Association. Many U.S. cities have large black populations and the incidence of asthma is dramatically higher in an urban environment, which researchers believe is one of the reasons for the disparity.

* Texas, with 11 million people, is the third highest state in the nation for hospital admissions for asthma, with a rate of 159 per 100,000 population. Last summer had 20 days in which the air quality did not meet federal standards, almost double the number in past years.

Sarah Vesey is a typical, active 12-year-old girl who likes drawing, riding horses, roller coasters and the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Some days, however, especially in the summer, Sara has to curtail those activities and begin a medical regimen.

The signs, she says, are itchy eyes, coughing and wheezing. It gets hard to breathe, she said. So I go and get my inhaler. Sarah has asthma, and she is not alone. From 2000 to 2009, the number of asthma sufferers in the United States increased 75 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Among children under age 4, the increase was 160 percent. The number of asthma sufferers is expected to double by the year 2020, costing society an estimated $18 billion.

Sarah's mother, Kim, says they try to keep her as active as possible, but a little prevention goes a long way.

Sarah, who was diagnosed at 18 months of age, has been admitted to the hospital for asthma 20 times and trips to the emergency room are pretty much weekly, according to her father.

Her condition has touched almost every area of the family's lives, from traumatic rushes to the emergency room and special treatments to choosing carpet or paint, but the experience has drawn the family closer together. Her brother Patrick will do anything for her, said Kim.

Les and Kim have to carefully check out conditions in Sarah's schools, but say the school she attends is well equipped with two nurses on duty.

Insurance covers 80 percent of the costs of treatment, but the expenses are still daunting. Prescription medicines can be $700 a month. Average years can run $50,000 and this year could soar to $100,000 because of a special lung treatment.

She is a million-dollar kid, no doubt about it. And worth it, Kim said. She is a very tough kid.

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