The proportion of asthma patients in the district is lower than the Bavarian and national average.
However, air pollution and climate change are causing the numbers to rise.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
- More than half a million asthmatics live in the Free State: One in 25 people in Bavaria is affected by the chronic respiratory disease.
However, the number varies greatly from region to region, as a recently published study by the AOK shows.
In the district, the proportion of 3.87 percent is just below the Bavarian average of four percent.
The highest values can be found in Northern Bavaria: the front runner is the Kaufbeuren district with 5.07 percent.
The disease rate there is almost two thirds higher than in the nearby Unterallgäu, where only 3.08 percent are affected.
Nationwide, the values in the federal states fluctuate between an average of 3.4 percent in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and 4.7 percent in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The AOK study tends to show a slightly higher frequency of asthma in large cities than in rural regions.
Professor Dr.
Edda Weimann, Medical Director of the Specialist Clinic Gaißach, in the higher air pollution: "Studies show that car exhaust fumes, especially diesel exhaust fumes and fine dust pollution, are among the risk factors for the development of the disease," she says.
In many cases, asthma is allergic.
"But as a result of increasing air pollution and climate change, the frequency of allergies is increasing," explains Weimann.
The number of asthmatics is increasing accordingly.
asthma
Asthma (or more precisely bronchial asthma) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways.
Typical asthmatic complaints are sudden shortness of breath with difficult exhalation, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and a tightness in the chest.
The symptoms are caused and exacerbated by certain triggers, such as pollen, mold spores, chemicals, exhaust fumes or tobacco smoke.
Allergic asthma often develops through a "change of floor" from hay fever or other allergies.
In children and adolescents, boys suffer from asthma much more frequently than girls.
With age, the disease occurs more often in women than in men.
In adulthood, women between 70 and 79 years of age are the most affected group: 6.7 percent of them have asthma.
Every year around 500 children and young people with severe asthma are treated in the Gaißach Center for Chronic Diseases.
Due to the corona pandemic, this is currently only possible to a limited extent and subject to a strict hygiene concept.
It is particularly important for asthmatics to protect themselves against infection with the coronavirus, emphasizes the clinic director: "If the lungs are damaged, the risk of a severe course of the disease is higher." Those affected should therefore ensure that they use good medication.
According to initial study results, experts assume that people with well-controlled asthma do not necessarily have a severe course of Covid-19.
"But even a flu-like infection can imbalance therapy and significantly worsen asthma." Weimann advises that asthma patients should avoid additional risk factors such as crowds of people and inner cities polluted with fine dust, as well as tobacco smoke.
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