Asthma leading admissions

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 22

Asthma leading admissions

NZPA-AAP Sydney

Asthma is an increasingly common childhood ailment and, at one . large children’s hospital in Sydney, is the leading cause of admissions but doctors have no explanation for the trend.

More than 1000 children were admitted to Camperdown Children’s Hospital with asthmarelated problems in 1985 and the figure had continued to rise, said a res-

piratory physician, Dr Peter van Asperen.

No explanation had been found for the high and increasing incidence of asthma, a trend also documented in other countries. In New Zealand, for example, there had been a 10-fold in-

crease in hospital admissions for asthma over the last 15 years. The increase had not been confined to children, Dr van Asperen said. “It now affects one in

five people in Australia and is the fourth-largest medical condition causing death behind heart attack, cancers and stroke.” Dr van Asperen said many cases of asthma in young children could be treated successfully with proper medication, but recognition of the severity of asthma was a problem. “Children get used to coping with breathing problems and after a while begin to think it is normal.”

In a bid to get young children to take their medication, Dr van Asperen has been promoting the use of educational material to communicate the significance of asthma.

Convincing both the parent and child of the importance of taking medication was a vital step towards ensuring the disease did not adversely affect the child’s development, he said.