title: Decline in asthma prevalence and severity in Israel over a 10-year period.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of asthma has increased in western countries towards the end of the last century, but recently seems to have stabilized.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate trends in the prevalence and severity of asthma that occurred in Israel over the past decade.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 17-year-old boys, eligible for national service, between 1999 and 2008 were reviewed. National annual hospitalization and death rates for asthma were extracted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred thousand medical records were reviewed. During the study period, lifetime asthma prevalence decreased from 9.7 to 8.1% (p = 0.002). The point prevalence of moderate-to-severe and mild persistent asthma decreased significantly from 0.88 and 3.41% to 0.36 and 2.44%, respectively, during this period. The prevalence of intermittent asthma and asthma in clinical remission for more than 3 years did not change significantly. The annual hospitalization rate for asthma decreased from 13.0 to 7.5 per 10,000 population (p < 0.0001), whilst the annual death rate due to asthma decreased between 1999 and 2008 from 2.1 to 1.4 per 100,000 population (p = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of asthma in Israeli teenage boys decreased significantly over the last decade. In addition, asthma hospitalization and asthma-related death rates in the total population also decreased.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Pulmonology Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berkman
authors.forename: Avraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avital
authors.forename: Chaim
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Springer
authors.forename: Levana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kordoba
authors.forename: Ziona
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Haklai
authors.forename: Amram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eshel
authors.forename: Shmuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Picard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index