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Hospital Admissions for Asthma Diagnosis Totals More than $2.4 Billion
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kim Davis, Executive Director
10:00 AM CST, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 877-299-8384 Ext. 1
HOSPITAL ADMISSION FOR ASTHMA DIAGNOSIS TOTALS MORE THAN $2.4 BILLION
Focus changes to Self-Management Strategies to Prevent Hospitalizations
(AUSTIN, TX) -- On Tuesday, May 5, 2009, The Asthma Coalition of Texas, in partnership with Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D – District 26), Representative Myra Crownover (R – District 64), Dr. Susan Rudd Bailey, President-Elect Texas Medical Association and local asthma coalitions from across Texas, kicked off National Asthma Awareness Month with a World Asthma Day Rally focusing on “managing your asthma” and the changes in the guidelines for the prevention and management of asthma that emphasize self-management on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol Building.
An estimated 1.4 million adults and 586,000 children living in Texas reported having an asthma diagnosis, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services 2008 Burden of Asthma in Texas report. Between the years 2000 to 2007, the total charges for an inpatient hospital admission for an asthma diagnosis totaled more than $2.4 billion dollars in Texas alone. In 2007, asthma was responsible for 25,000 hospitalizations with a price tag of over $446 million. That is an alarming rate of $14 per second. This total does not account for losses due to missed days of work and school. Nationally, an estimated 12.8 million missed school days per year are attributed to asthma, making it the leading cause of school absenteeism due to a health condition.
Nearly one third of Texas adults reporting they currently have asthma experience at least one day a year in which they are unable to work or carry out their usual activities due to the disease. A number of these asthma incidences are preventable when asthma is managed effectively through reduction of exposures to asthma triggers, use of proper controller medications, and regular follow-up with a health care provider to update your asthma action plan.
Asthma is an illness that does not discriminate based on economic status, gender, age or race. The impact of the burden of asthma is not only felt financially in Texas but also impacts the quality of life of those Texans living with the disease.
The Asthma Coalition of Texas is a statewide non-profit volunteer organization comprised of local organizations, health care providers, school personnel, asthma educators and Texans with a shared vision of improving the quality of health and life of Texans with asthma. For more information about asthma, please visit the ACT website at www.TexasAsthma.org or ask your health care provider.
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