It’s pretty obvious that Hay Fever is a big problem that
affects many people worldwide. We know that it happens to children and adults
and that we probably have a little of it (or a lot) ourselves. But really who
all is suffering?
According to the CDC, the United States has had 17.7 million
adults newly diagnosed with hay fever within the past 12 months and another 7.1
million children have reported having hay fever. The Revolution Health Group
reports that hay fever causes about 14 million doctor office visits, 90% of
which are seasonal and 70-80% have perennial as well. By the age 6-19, 17% of
all children have an allergy to some environmental factor, and the severity and
occurrence tend to greatly increase with age with no apparent discrimination to
race or gender. Most importantly, the rates in the U.S. have been rising
dramatically for unknown reasons.
So what does this even mean? That a significant number of
people are suffering from hay fever and that this is an increasing problem. It
appears that by this data alone that quality of life for these individuals is
also affected. For example; for the doctor’s visits alone take into
consideration the time, money (co-pays, medications, transportation etc.) and
overall hassle of even getting the visits. This does not even include the
symptomatic burdens associated with this chronic condition. Also, because
having hay fever puts you at a higher risk for other hypersensitivity
conditions from an overactive immune system, there is the increase for food/drug
allergies, asthma, and other types of hypersensitivity reactions and the other
issues that go along with them.
The most interesting thing about this condition is that even
though it affects so many people, leads to so many undesirable effects,
symptoms, medication usage, and even possible complications, there is no cure.
No comments:
Post a Comment