Allergy and Asthma Statistics

Statistics related to asthma and allergies

According to the latest information available from the American Lung Association, the CDC, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:

Asthma

• Approximately 24.6 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with asthma, with at least 7.1 million of them children under the age of 18.

• Asthma is one of the leading serious, chronic illnesses among children in the U.S.

• More than 3 thousand Americans die each year from asthma.

• Asthma accounts for more than 14 million absences from school each year.

• Asthma is the third-ranking cause of hospitalizations for children under the age of 15.

Allergy

• More than 50 percent of Americans test positive for at least one allergy. 

• Allergies affect 40 to 50 million people in the U.S.

• Pollen allergy (hay fever or allergic rhinitis) affects about 8 percent of adults in the U.S.

• Allergies are one of the leading chronic diseases in the U.S.

• Allergies, in general, affect 10 percent of children. 

• Urticaria (hives; raised areas of reddened skin that become itchy) and angioedema (swelling of throat tissues) together affect approximately 15 percent to 24 percent of the U.S. population at some time in their lives.

• Chronic sinusitis, most often caused by allergies, affects 12 percent of Americans under age 45. 

• In 2007, the latest statistics available, food or digestive allergies were reported in about 3 million children.