Increasing Severity of Asthma from 1960 to 1987

Abstract

To the Editor: There is growing evidence that asthma is becoming more severe in the United States, as well as in other countries. The disease seems more prevalent,¹ hospital admissions are increasing,² and death rates are rising.³ Since 1970 I have noted an increased rate of admission of adult patients with asthma to the Chest Service at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center (Fig. 1). At the same time, the death rate among patients hospitalized with asthma has declined, coincidently with the adoption in 1968 of a policy of not administering sedatives and tranquilizers to such patients⁴ and of regularly giving . . .