1. State of Childhood Asthma, United States: 1980-2005 Report Released December 12, 2006 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/06fac ts/asthma1980-2005.htm

2. Percentage of Children with Asthma The percentage of children who had asthma more than doubled between 1980 and 1995 3.6% 1980 7.5% 1995 In 2001, CDC introduced a more precise measurement of asthma and the 5 years since then the trend has remained stable at historically high levels (Currently approx. 9%).

3. Racial Disparities In 2005, nearly 9% of children – 6.5 million children under age18 – were reported to currently have asthma. Puerto Rican children were reported to have the highest percentage of asthma 19.2% followed by non-Hispanic black children 12.7%

4. Missed School Days According to 2003 data, children with at least one asthma attack in the previous year (nearly 4 million children) missed a cumulative of 12.8 million school days due to asthma.

5. Emergency Department and Physician Office Visits Asthma-related emergency department visits for children have remained fairly stable from ‘92 to ’04 9.76 visits/1,000 children in 1992 10.3 visits/1,000 children in 2004 Asthma-related visits to physician offices have increased sharply since the early 1990s < 40 visits/1,000 children in 1990 89 visits/1,000 children in 2004

6. Death Rates After increasing steadily between ‘80 and ‘98, asthma death rates among children have for the most part declined since ‘99. A change in the way causes of death were coded resulted in a sizable 1-year decline between 1998 and 1999. Since 1999, the asthma death rate for children has fallen 3.0 deaths/1,000,000 children in 1999 2.5 deaths/1,000,000 in 2004

7. States with Highest Percentages of Children with Asthma Among the 37 states for which data were available the highest percentage of children with asthma were: Massachusetts Hawaii Oklahoma Maryland Rhode Island

8. States with Lowest Percentages of Children with Asthma Among the 37 states for which data were available the lowest percentage of children with asthma were: Utah California According to the 2003 CA Health Interview Study 9% of CA children suffered from an asthma attack or other asthma symptom in 2003) Iowa Tennessee Washington