The number of people living with asthma is on the rise.
Speaking in Goderich, at the “Cafe Scientific Experience” at the Livery Theatre, Dr. Jim Lewis and Scientist for the Lawson Health Research Institute, says it’s an epidemic.
He doesn’t want to strike fear into everyone, but he says the number of people diagnosed with asthma 20 years ago was around 4% and that number is now up to 20 to 30%.
Dr. Lewis says with the increase number of people getting asthma the number of related fatalities is also rising.
He says when properly diagnosed and treated it’s a totally preventable death.
During the open forum discussion topics ranged from asthma and the environment, to cancer and diabetes as well as how social environment factors affect your health.
Dr. Lewis says the assumption that outdoor air pollution is directly responsible for the increase in asthma cases is not necessarily correct.
He says outdoor air pollution has gone down over the last 15 years where as the prevalence of asthma has gone up, however he doesn’t want to underestimate the importance of outdoor air pollution in being a trigger for asthma.
He says there a lot of people that may not have known they had asthma, but because of the outdoor air pollution their symptoms are manifest to a greater degree.
He add’s it’s a huge problem in making asthma worse, but as a cause and affect it’s not a major component it’s more likely related to genetics and up-bringing factors.
