Russia
Prevalence of asthma is growing not only due to the negative impact of environmental factors, but also due to better detection
The prevalence of asthma has increased due to national diagnosis and treatment programmes, but mild asthma is still less commonly diagnosed.
The highest values of the chronicity index in children 0-14 years old were found for the diagnosis “asthma, status asthmaticus” (8.7%), higher than other common conditions such as “insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus” (6.2%), renal failure (4.9%) and “ulcerative stomach ulcer and duodenal disease” (4.1%).
The work of the national programme “Вronchial asthma in childhood. Strategy for treatment and prevention” in recent years has improved the outcomes for severe forms of asthma. There remains one additional unsolved problem: early diagnosis of mild forms of asthma, which would improve the situation further. Many generic medicines of high quality are available. However there is still considerable steroid phobia among patients, which interferes with the good patient-doctor interaction. Unfortunately, too many patients believe that inhaled corticosteroids affect growth and cause obesity.
