Fed: Latest asthma figures misleading peak body warns

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2000
Fed: Latest asthma figures misleading peak body warns

CANBERRA, Dec 15 AAP - A peak asthma body today warned the latest figures showing a
significant drop in asthma deaths could be misleading.

The figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week, showed
that 424 Australians died from asthma in 1999, compared to 685 in 1998.

However the National Asthma Campaign warned that changes to coding rules for asthma
deaths meant the two sets of figures could not be accurately compared.

Campaign chairman Ron Tomlins said the 1999 figures on tracked deaths directly related
to asthma alone while previous years' figures tracked all deaths where asthma was a factor.

"Consequently the data collected in 1998 and 1999 is not directly comparable," Dr Tomlins said.

"What is clear is that fewer people died from asthma in Australia than in any year
since the campaign's inception."

He said the figures showed that young adults and older people could still manage their
asthma much better.

The ABS said asthma caused the death of 15 people aged 20 to 24, compared with seven
aged 15 to 19.

More males than females died in both age groups.

"Too many unnecessary deaths of vibrant people occurred in 1999 and at the other end
of the scale too many older adults died of asthma," Dr Tomlins said.

In the over-60 age group, 286 people died in 1999.

More than two million Australians have asthma, the cause of which is not known.

There is no cure for asthma, which affects about one in four children, one in seven
teenagers and one in 10 adults.

AAP eg/nms/bwl

KEYWORD: ASTHMA

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