Asthma: key points
- Asthma is a significant cause of impaired quality of life and hospital admissions in Scotland. Based on cases identified in primary care registers, an estimated 5.9% of the Scottish population had active asthma in Scotland in 2010/11.
- An estimated 4.6% of the Scottish population, around 254,000 people, consulted a general practitioner or practice nurse for asthma at least once during 2010/11. There has been little change in this number since 2004/05. In all there were an estimated 413,000 consultations for asthma in Scotland in 2010/11.
- Scotland, like the rest of the UK, has a high prevalence of asthma compared to the rest of the world. However data from the ISAAC surveys suggest that asthma in children became less common in Scotland between 1995 and 2002.
- Asthma was the underlying cause of 91 deaths in Scotland in 2010, but in the short term the number of deaths fluctuates too widely to show any clear trends.
Section updates:
- The last major update of this section was completed in June 2011.
- The next major update is due to be carried out by end June 2012.
Page last updated: 26 January 2012
