§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the number and percentage of children in Scotland with asthma.
§ Mr. StewartAsthma can best be defined as a disease caused by variable narrowing of the bronchial airways as a result of inflammation. The condition covers a wide spectrum of severity, however, from a single wheeze to a life-threatening attack. Measure of prevalence is therefore difficult, as the precise definition used is of critical importance. The evidence from a number of recent United Kingdom epidemiological surveys suggests, however, that between 10 and 15 per cent. of children suffer from asthma at some point during their childhood.
Neither the surveys nor routine statistics provide a sufficient basis for an estimate to be made of the number of children suffering from asthma at any given time. However, in Scotland in 1992—the latest year for which the information is available—the number of children aged under 16 with a principal diagnosis of asthma severe enough for them to be admitted to hospital was 3,548.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many working days were lost in Scotland because of asthma in the latest 12 months for which information is available.
§ Mr. StewartThis information is not available.