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According to this study, the number of adults suffering
from asthma has more than doubled in the last 2 decades, with steroid
prescriptions increasing 6-fold. According to this study:
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The main reason for the asthma increase is
allergies.
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Among people who never smoked the rate of hay
fever (a type of allergy) went up from 6% to 20% and the rate of asthma
increased from 3% to 8%.
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Among smokers, hay fever rose from 5% to 16%
and asthma went up from 2% to 5%.
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The number of prescriptions for inhaled steroid
medications for asthma has increased more than 6 times in the last
decade.
British
Medical Journal July 8, 2000;321:88-92.
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