Asthma
What is asthma?
Asthma is a serious lung disease. During an asthma attack, the airways get narrow, making it difficult to breathe. Symptoms of asthma include wheezing, shortness of breath, chest pain and tightness and coughing. Asthma can even cause death. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse. Asthma may be triggered by allergens and irritants that are common in homes including secondhand smoke, dust mites, pets, molds, air pollution, foods, respiratory infections, pests and exercise. About 20 million Americans have asthma. Asthma is the leading cause of long-term illness in children. The air that children breathe can make a difference.
For more information on asthma, see our Healthy Homes page.
Why is tracking asthma important?
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 9 Americans has been diagnosed with asthma at some point in his or her life. Asthma is one of the leading chronic health conditions among children. Asthma causes lower quality of life and large economic costs. Large racial, income and geographic disparities exist in asthma prevalence.
About our asthma data
Our asthma data come from emergency department visits and hospitalizations. This indicator estimates the number and rate of hospitalization and emergency department visits. The same asthma patients may be counted more than once if medical treatments were more than 48 hours apart. The asthma data include:
- health outcome (asthma)
- state and county of residence
- year of emergency department visit or hospitalization
Our asthma data do not include:
- out-of-state residents whose illness occurred in Tennessee
- Tennessee residents whose illness occurred out-of-state
- counts less than or equal to 10 per county per year
Additional resources
Tennessee Department of Health (TDH)
Asthma Management Initiative
Health Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Environmental Public Health Tracking asthma
Tennessee Department of Health
Healthy Homes - Asthma
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Asthma