Night-time waking because of asthma usually reflects asthma that is not adequately controlled and this can have a significant impact on the lives of people with asthma. Since the early 1990s, the total number of hospital admissions for asthma has been fairly stable. Assuming that this average applies to the whole of the UK, there were 273,872 bed days attributed to asthma in 1996. The National Asthma Campaign estimates that the total cost of asthma to the UK is now in excess of 2,000 million a year, calculated by taking the most recent estimated figures for NHS expenditure on asthma, lost productivity and DSS Sickness and Invalidity Benefits. There are no official figures for the cumulative total number of people with occupational asthma.
Figures only relate to the number of new cases each year.
In the Impact of Asthma Survey almost three-quarters of children who replied reported missing time from school in the previous year because of their asthma. Trends in the prevalence and severity of childhood asthma. Health Survey for England 1996. Stationery Office, 1998. Two surveys 8 years apart.