The global distribution of the prevalence of symptoms of asthma in children and adolescents were provided from two worldwide surveys by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) published in 1997 and 2008, but there have been no such surveys since. Both cross-sectional surveys showed a considerably variability of symptoms of asthma both between countries and within countries, and overall, a high burden of symptoms.
The Global Asthma Network (GAN), the continuation of the ISAAC collaboration, has conducted a new survey during the past five years, which updates worldwide data on the prevalence of symptoms of asthma in those age groups. The results of this survey already published (Eur Resp J 2022, 60: 2102866) will be further commented in this session of the Global Asthma Network symposium.
Symptoms of asthma continue to have a considerable global health burden in both sexes, all regions, and all levels of country gross national income. The Indian subcontinent remains the area with the lowest prevalence of the condition. Strategies by health policy makers aiming to reduce the prevalence and severity of asthma (and associated morbidity and mortality) should be a priority for the 21st century.