KARACHI, Feb 20: Karachi ranked second among the major urban cities of the country with respect to incidence of asthma, following Multan, said a study conducted by local and foreign senior health practitioners.
The report on “asthma insight and reality in Pakistan,” prepared after a study involving households of eight urban cities, says five out of every 100 persons in Pakistan suffer from Asthma, while 57 per cent were not aware of the importance of asthma treatment.
The findings were made public at a press conference led by Prof Paul Jones of University of London on Monday. Dr Nadeem Rizvi and Dr Javaid A Khan who partnered Prof Jones in the study completed over a period of two years were also present.
According to experts, during the study 16,000 urban households were contacted in survey samples in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi /Islamabad, Multan, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Quetta, which represented 52 per cent of the population.
Briefing newsmen, doctors said that the results of the study provided valuable information to doctors and other concerned, particularly in a background that there was a need to educate patients, general public and doctors.
There are a lot of deficiencies as far as treatment of asthma in the country is concerned, said Dr Nadeem Rizvi, adding that 50 per cent of the asthma patients normally pass one or two sleepless nights every week.
During the survey by various volunteers, it was found that 57 per cent patients did not understand the importance of asthma treatment. About 47 per cent respondents blamed pollution as the top reason for less improvement in their condition, while 21 per cent attributed less improvement to sub-standard drugs.
As per a report, 71 of those who reported that they suffered from asthma said that their condition improved because of the better understanding. About 59 per cent patients attributed improvement in their condition to better medicine.
Coming to awareness about the diseases, the speakers mentioned that 85 per cent patients said that they did not know about the lung function test, while 56 per cent said they use inhalers, but over 50 per cent said they were shy to use inhalers in public.
About 41 per cent of the patients are still concerned about long term drug use, as they feared side-effects.
The speakers said that the prevalence of asthma had increased approximately 50 per cent over the last 10 to 15 years and it was estimated that there might be an additional 100 million persons with asthma by 2025.
Over 160,000 children aged 1-14 years are hospitalized for asthma annually the world over, while on the other hand the economic costs of asthma are estimated to exceed those of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined.
In the past 10 years, asthma prevalence has increased by 76 per cent in Pakistan. This worsening of conditions and under diagnosis can be attributed to a general lack of awareness about the disease and its effects, treatments, triggers and associated medical advances, the experts concluded.
KARACHI, Feb 20: Karachi ranked second among the major urban cities of the country with respect to incidence of asthma, following Multan, said a study conducted by local and foreign senior health practitioners.
