What's behind this steady increase in asthma cases? Data source: American Lung Association.

How bad is asthma? Bad and getting worse. Don't believe us? Then check these numbers: Doctor and hospital visits due to asthma are up 50 percent in a decade to 14 million per year. That included 1.6 million visits to emergency rooms, the doctor-of-last-resort to many people without health insurance. Worldwide, the prevalence of asthma ranges from 1.9 percent to 36.7 percent in various countries, according to the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Children.

An estimated 14.6 million Americans have asthma, including 4.8 million children. Asthma is particularly acute in the inner city. African-Americans are four times as likely as whites to be hospitalized, and three times as likely to die, from asthma. The estimated direct and indirect costs of asthma are $12.6 billion per year.

Asthma killed 5,487 people in the United States in 1994, according to the latest statistics available from the American Lung Association. Asthma increased 42 percent among males between 1982 and 1994, and 81 percent among females. What's behind the radical rise in this disease?

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