Total Medical and Prescription Expenditures by Current Assthma Status and Whether Asthma Daily Preventive Medicine is Being Taken, United States, 2006. Statistical Brief No. 241

摘要

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease in which the airways of the lungs become inflamed and constricted. Data from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey show that 9.9 percent of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population (29.7 million people) have been told by a doctor or other health professional that they have asthma. Approximately 72 percent of those who have been told they have asthma have current asthma that is they have had an asthma episode during the past 12 months or report they still have asthma. These individuals comprise an estimated 7.1 percent of the total population. Asthma daily preventive medicines are often beneficial for the long term control and management of asthma. An estimated 31.6 percent of those with current asthma take asthma daily preventive medicines daily or almost everyday. This Statistical Brief presents estimates of average total medical expenditures and average total prescription expenditures in 2006, by current asthma status and use of asthma daily preventive medicine. The estimates are derived from the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPSHC). Unless otherwise indicated, all differences discussed in the text are statistically significant at the .05 level or better.