Asthma already affects almost one in ten people in Andalusia.

Asthma, one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, affects 8.57% of the Andalusian population, which amounts to approximately 856,800 people. This is reflected in a comprehensive population study conducted by researchers from the Virgen Macarena University Hospital and the Seville Biomedicine Institute, based on the analysis of more than 725,000 patients diagnosed between 2005 and 2021, which could be the largest asthma cohort described to date in Spain.

According to the study, which will soon be published in a leading journal in its field, Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, the disease is slightly more common in women than in men, although in childhood the opposite is true: up to the age of 15, it is diagnosed more in males and more emergency room crises are recorded, while from adolescence onward, women account for more cases and more exacerbations. Almost half of the affected individuals are under 20 years old, highlighting the significance of childhood and adolescent asthma.

The prevalence is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, and higher in inland provinces than in coastal ones. Inland, exacerbations spike in May, coinciding with the peaks of pollen from grasses and olive trees, while on the coast, crises are mainly distributed throughout the winter months, when respiratory viruses act as triggers. Between 2009 and 2021, 15% of patients visited the emergency room at least once due to a crisis, with an average of more than twenty daily cases in Andalusia.

The Covid-19 pandemic had its impact. During 2020 and 2021, both new diagnoses and visits to the emergency room for asthma decreased, an effect the authors associate with the use of masks, mobility restrictions, and reduced circulation of respiratory viruses.

The study also focuses on treatment patterns. The most commonly used initial medication remains short-acting bronchodilators, despite guidelines recommending a prioritization of inhaled corticosteroids and combinations with long-acting bronchodilators, and limiting the use of systemic corticosteroids.

The authors note that this snapshot should help better align clinical practice with current recommendations, strengthen coordination between primary and specialized care, and advance in digital tools such as mobile apps and decision support systems that allow for anticipating crises and improving control.