Asthma: key points

  • Public Health Scotland publish experimental data on disease prevalence from Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE). In 2021/22 an estimated 6.3% of the Scottish population registered with a GP had a diagnosis of asthma (data available from 65% of GP practices).
  • Asthma hospital admissions in Scotland dropped dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021/22 overall admissions rate was 66 admissions per 100,000 people, an increase from the previous year but the rate remains below that of the pre-pandemic period (around 90 admissions per 100,000 people).
  • Asthma hospitalisations in children aged less than 10 years have returned to rates comparable to the pre-pandemic period.
  • Males are less likely than females to be hospitalised for asthma and have asthma as their underlying cause of death.
  • Asthma was the underlying cause of 96 deaths in Scotland in 2021, where 64 were female and 32 were male.

Section updates:

  • The last major update of this section was completed in December 2022.
  • The next major update is due to be carried out by end December 2023.