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Thread: Asthma rates

  1. #1
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    Default Asthma rates

    Researching I was surprised to find that asthma rates are high in NZ, higher than the UK and almost anywhere else in the world.
    Is this a problem in NZ?
    I would have thought that with low population/pollution asthma cases would be low?

  2. #2
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    Cold damp houses

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by walshy View Post
    Cold damp houses
    yep and the lack of exhaust emission standards on cars.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by walshy View Post
    Cold damp houses
    This is probably the biggest factor. In the UK you have issues with keeping the air moist enough as central heating dries the air too much.

    In NZ the opposite is true. Much of the housing stock is poor quality with very little or no insulation, single glazed windows, central heating is rare, with most people heating individual rooms or just the main living space by means of portable heaters, heat pumps (blow warm air out) or woodburners. This means that it can be hard to keep homes warm and dry enough, often with both day and night time temperatures way below the minimum WHO guidelines, meaning you are breathing in poor quality air and there is also a build up of mould spores in the environment, which can trigger asthma in many people. The more humid climate on North Island lends itself very well to mould growth. The other issue in built up areas is winter smog as a result of all the woodburners people use for their home heating.

    All of these problems are exaccerbated by the ingrained cultural belief that kiwis are hardy, and should just put on another sweater if it's cold because 'winter doesn't last that long'. This is slowly changing and people are becoming more aware of these issues, with many people now realising the value of home improvements and insulation, but I can still look around this area of fairly reasonable homes (by NZ standards) and see some people living in run-down sheds because they would rather spend their money on a big boat than a house they only sleep in.

    Don't let this scare you, however, because there are decent homes to be found, there is the option of building or renovating.....as long as you budget for those expenses. We have chosen to build a modest sized house that will be warm and dry with heating, rather than spend the same money on a bigger house which is colder.

  5. #5
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    My son suffered horribly from his asthma back in Canada. We lived in a house that had black mould growing and the landlord refused to help. We couldn't afford to move somewhere else. In that town anyway

    Here in New Zealand, we've been lucky enough to get a house that is only a couple of years old and therefore well insulated and not damp. Combine this with an amazing amount of time spent outside in the fresh fresh air and his asthma has actually IMPROVED!

    I'm shocked...though to be honest I'm sure if we lived in an older house this would not be the case.

  6. #6
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    This question has come up a number of times. The statistics by country are as follows. Simply being in an English speaking country seems to be the highest risk factor.

    Countries with the highest rates of asthma:

    1. Wales
    2. Australia
    3. Scotland
    4. Republic of Ireland
    5. Canada
    6. Estonia
    7. New Zealand
    8. United States
    9. England
    10. Malta
    11. Norway
    12. Denmark
    13. Spain
    14. Poland
    15. Sweden........

    Reference: http://www.asthmamonitoring.org/asth...gure%203p3.htm

  7. #7
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    The statistics above are for 20-44 year olds, not the population as a whole. A good resource is the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand (https://www.asthmafoundation.org.nz/in_new_zealand.php). They note that one in every four children in NZ suffers from asthma symptoms, and one in every 6 adults. This gives NZ the second highest asthma rate in the world by their reckoning.

    I suspect that cold, damp, mouldy housing is the primary cause. Asthma here disproportionately affects the poor.

  8. #8
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    That's interesting. We could therefore rearrange the asthma results to show:

    1. UK
    2. New Zealand
    3. Australia

    http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/content/view/592/1027/

    It's possible cold and damp houses are contributory factors. There is evidence for other factors though.

    Overweight women are 40% more likely to have asthma than women of lower weight. New Zealand's economically disadvantaged people, who are disproportionately affected by asthma, are also more overweight than the general population.

    Asthma rates have risen in the UK, despite the fact that the quality of the housing stock has undoubtedly improved and there are fewer cold, damp houses. In fact, some people are blaming central heating (the opposite of NZ) for the problem.

    It's a complex issue and I don't think there's enough evidence yet to identify a primary cause.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8217935.stm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_New_Zealand

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...e-1450291.html

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/677423.stm

    http://www.heal.com/asthma/asthma-basics#_edn2

  9. #9
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    I recall something in the news recently, where the increase in asthma rates in children might be attributable in part to the administration of paracetamol to infants.

    I've just found one of the news stories: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7623230.stm

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by ENZ View Post
    Asthma rates have risen in the UK, despite the fact that the quality of the housing stock has undoubtedly improved and there are fewer cold, damp houses. In fact, some people are blaming central heating (the opposite of NZ) for the problem.
    Yes, and it's quite an adjustment coming here are having to manage your living environment in an opposite way i.e. rather than adding moisture to the air to prevent night time coughing or wheezing (common symptom of asthma), here you generally have to remove moisture in the air to prevent build-up of mould and other allergens and be able to warm air temperature to healthy level.

    Another contributing factor in the UK is car exhaust fumes. Housing might have improved, but as this has happened the number of cars on the roads have increased significantly, so more people can be triggered by pollution/allergens in the environment. I know the moment I stopped working in London and started working in a smaller provincial town, my asthma improved dramatically.

    I would suspect the main contributing factors for asthma vary quite a bit from one country to another. I also wonder whether the countries with the highest asthma rates are partly due to recognising asthma and early diagnosis these days. When my parents/grandparents were growing up asthma was something associated with sicky old people or children that were failing to thrive....there was a stigma attached to it, if people believed in asthma at all.

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