Lung Disease Plagues Scotland
07/21/05
ASTHMA is a lung disease characterised by coughing and breathing problems. The airways over-react and become inflamed or clogged.
Scotland has the world's worst childhood asthma rate - one in nine kids have it.
On average, 140 Scots die from asthma every year.
More than 12million working days are lost to asthma in the UK each year. It costs the NHS £889million annually - and an asthmatic child goes to hospital every 18 minutes.
About 40 per cent of the risk of developing asthma is down to hereditary factors.
Children whose parents smoke are more likely to develop it - as are those with hay fever or eczema
Cigarettes
