(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 02 – In the post-Covid period the difficulties in accessing specialist care have increased and in 2022 new diagnoses have dropped by 12% compared to 2019. While the requests for check-ups by the pulmonologist, in the same over time, they fell by 35%. This was revealed, hand in hand with a constant increase in serious forms of the disease, is a survey conducted by Iqvia, a provider of data in the health sector, for World Asthma Day which is celebrated on 2 May.
The Iqvia data collected through research in asthma centers show that in the post-pandemic years the proportion of asthmatic patients treated only by general practitioners has increased, while the proportion of patients treated only by pulmonologist specialists or allergists has decreased . Requests for follow-up visits to the pulmonologist in 2022 fell by 35% compared to 2019. At the same time, patients with severe asthma in specialist centers grew by 19% compared to 2020 and those treated with biological drugs increased by 66% .
According to the World Health Organization, between 100 and 150 million people are affected by asthma worldwide and it affects about 1 in 10 children in Western countries. In Italy it has a prevalence of about 10% of the population and 2% of them suffer from severe asthma. Since 1998, World Asthma Day has been held every year on the first Tuesday in May on the initiative of the Global Initiative for Asthma to promote the importance of early diagnosis and help patients better manage the disease.
This year the theme of the day will be ‘Cures for all’. For the occasion, the Italian Society of Childhood Respiratory Diseases (Simri) has launched a campaign involving about 30 Pediatric Pulmonary Centers which will carry out free pediatric spirometry assessments throughout the month of May (information on www.simri.it). The campaign also involves patient associations such as AsmAllergia Bimbi and Federasma e Allergy. (HANDLE).
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