Asthma prevalence among United States population insights from NHANES data analysis

Abstract Asthma is a prevalent respiratory condition that poses a substantial burden on public health in the United States. Understanding its prevalence and associated risk factors is vital for informed policymaking and public health interventions. This study aims to examine asthma prevalence and identify major risk factors in the U.S. population. Our study utilized NHANES data between 1999 and 2020 to investigate asthma prevalence and associated risk factors within the U.S. population. We analyzed a dataset of 64,222 participants, excluding those under 20 years old. We performed binary regression analysis to examine the relationship of demographic and health related covariates with the prevalence of asthma. The study found that asthma affected 8.7% of the U.S. population. Gender emerged as a significant factor, with 36.0% of asthma patients being male and 64.0% female (p < 0.001). Individuals aged 60 and older having the highest asthma prevalence at 34.0%. Non-Hispanic whites had the highest prevalence at 46.4%, followed by non-hispanic blacks at 26.0%. In contrast, Mexican Americans and other hispanic individuals had lower rates, at 9.6% and 9.0%, respectively. Females were 1.76 times more likely to have asthma than males (p < 0.001). Obese individuals had a 1.74 times higher likelihood of current asthma compared to underweight individuals (p < 0.001). Notably, both Non-Hispanic Whites and Non-Hispanic Blacks showed higher odds of current asthma compared to Mexican Americans (with adjusted odds ratios of 2.084 and 2.096, respectively, p < 0.001). The research findings indicate that asthma is prevalent in 8.7% of the U.S. population. Our study highlights that individuals who are female, have low income, are obese, and smoke have the highest likelihood of being affected by asthma. Therefore, public health policies should prioritize addressing these risk factors in their preventive strategies.