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Previous Volume 360:1002-1014 March 5, 2009 Number 10 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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According to survey data for which the diagnosis of asthma was based on a physician's assessment, it is estimated that approximately 7% of Americans have current asthma.^1,2 The disease affects people of all races and ethnic groups worldwide, from infancy to old age, with slightly more boys than girls affected and, after puberty, more women than men. Dramatic increases in the prevalence of atopy and asthma have occurred over the past few decades in Westernized countries³ and more recently in less-developed nations.⁴ Estimates suggest that as many as 300 million persons are affected worldwide.⁵

In the 1970s and 1980s, severe . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Quick Relief

Long-Term Control

Inhaled Corticosteroids

Inhaled Long-Acting β-Agonist Bronchodilators

Leukotriene Modifiers

Anti-IgE Therapy

Conclusions

Source Information

From Partners Asthma Center, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

This article (10.1056/NEJMra0804579) was last updated on September 9, 2009, at NEJM.org.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Fanta at the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115, or at cfanta@partners.org.

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