New survey looks at the impact & cost of asthma

The number of people in Canada with asthma is on the rise.

That fact was uncovered when the Asthma Society of Canada conducted the first-ever patient quality survey, which looks at the impact and the cost of the disease.

Society president and CEO Rob Oliphant says almost three-million Canadians have asthma, and among those roughly 250,000 have severe asthma.

Oliphant says the survey was conducted to find out how well educated people are on the disease.

“We did this study to look at how many patients with severe asthma actually understood their disease as serious, that it could be life-threatening, because today someone will probably die in Canada of asthma,” he told 680News.

According to the society, about 250 Canadians die ever year from asthma. They say that most of these deaths could have been prevented with proper education and management.

The disease is described as a “chronic inflammatory disease of the airway” that causes shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing and wheezing.

The society says between 2010 and 2011, direct and indirect costs associated with treating asthma topped more than $1-billion dollars.

For more information on the Asthma Society of Canada click here.

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