The increase in allergic diseases and asthma is in danger of reaching epidemic proportions, experts have claimed.
The World Allergy Organisation warned this week that up to 400 million people could suffer from asthma by 2025 if current trends continue. At the moment, an estimated 300 million people across the globe suffer from the condition.
Allergic rhinitis, which is a risk factor for asthma and is often known as hay-fever, affects 400 million people annually, while food allergies affect about 200 to 250 million. An estimated 250,000 avoidable deaths from asthma occur each year.
However, WAO, which presented new data this week, said children and young adults were bearing the brunt of the illnesses.
Professor Marek Kowalski, chair of the World Allergy Week Steering Committee, called for an integrated approach to diagnosis and treatment of allergies because the increase in multiple allergies in individual patients was “making the global burden even more complex”.
The rise in allergic disease rises was associated with direct socioeconomic costs, such as interference with breathing during day or night, emergency department visits, hospitalisations, and indirect costs, including reduced quality of life, reduced work productivity and absenteeism.
WAO recommended: an increased in availability and accessibility to allergy diagnosis and therapies; increased resources for advanced research; and global partnerships of multi-disciplinary teams, involving clinicians, academia, patient representatives, and industry.
Professor Ruby Pawankar, WAO president, added: “The common goal is to reduce the burden of allergic diseases and develop cost-effective, innovative preventive strategies and a more integrated, holistic approach to treatment. These efforts can thereby prevent premature and unwanted deaths and improve quality of life.”
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