More than 80,000 Spanish adults get asthma every year

Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) researchers along with 13 research centers around the world have published a study in the journal Allergy that reveals that more than 80,000 Spanish between 20 and 44 years get asthma each year and that 80% of these cases are due to lung disorders and not allergies. In the case of Catalonia, the figure rises to more than 13,300 people.

In fact, 9175 Europeans adults participated in this study in 2 surveys. In 4588 they suffered for the first time. Therefore, the study found that 4.5 of every 1,000 adults who had never before suffered from asthma contract this respiratory disease each year.

According to Josep M Antó, CREAL director and coordinator of the study, the report shows that the onset of asthma in adults who had never suffered from this disease is "relatively common" and that "most people who develop asthma are not allergic.

CONTAMINATION AND SNUFF, NO ALLERGIES

In fact, 80% of asthma cases that occur in adulthood are due to alterations in lung function whose risk factors for getting it are: snuff consumption, air pollution, respiratory infections suffered in childhood, genetic determinants, high-risk occupations and obesity. Furthermore, women tend to be more affected by new outbreaks of asthma in adulthood than men.

This finding points to "the importance of maintaining an optimal level of lung function throughout life," says the director of CREAL. Add that this study, along with others, help to "better understand the relationship between environmental factors and labor and the development of asthma.

These data are shown in a publication of the European Respiratory Health Survey (ECHRS), which began in the '80s. It is an international study in which participating research centers in 13 European countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Australia) and 5 Spanish cities ( Barcelona, Galdakao, Albacete, Oviedo, Huelva). It aims to explore the causes of respiratory disease prevention to promote it.

It is estimated that worldwide more than 150 million people suffer from asthma. In Spain more than 10% of children and 5% of adults suffer from it, representing a cost of more than 240,000 euros between direct costs (drugs, doctors and hospitals) and indirect (sick leave). In Catalonia, about half a million.