Add asthma to the list of medical problems that have a greater impact on women than they do on men.
The estimated national prevalence for asthma during 2000 was 9.1 percent for women compared with 5.1 percent for men.
A new survey, Women and Asthma in America, shows that many women are needlessly letting the condition affect the quality of their lives.
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Among the findings of the survey, funded by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline:
Fifty-six percent of the survey sample of more than 500 women have had an asthma attack that sent them to an emergency room or urgent care center, and 30 percent had to be hospitalized.
Sixty-five percent of women with spouses or partners say their asthma is a source of worry for their partners, and 76 percent of women with children said it makes their children worry about them.
Forty percent had to decline, cancel or interrupt a social event because of their asthma.
“I think most women’s view of asthma is that you can sort of live with it,” said Phyllis Greenberger, president of the Society for Women’s Health Research, a not-for-profit advocacy group and adviser for the survey.
“They’ve got other things–their kids, their families, their job–to deal with, and they don’t think of asthma as being life-threatening and they ignore it until it gets bad or they have symptoms.”
Nearly one in three women with asthma said they experienced symptoms seven times or more during a typical week.
Dr. Bob Lanier, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said women’s expectations for asthma management are not high enough. “There’s better help available now than there was 10 years ago,” he said.
While many with asthma are accustomed to using a “rescue inhaler” to combat spasms of the bronchial tubes, the second tier of treatment involves inhaled steroids. Now, Lanier said, there’s a more convenient inhaler that combines both treatments.
“The results are a tremendous improvement in lung function and quality of life,” he said.