TEHRAN - About 10 percent of Iranian suffer from asthma symptoms, head of Iranian Society of Asthma and Allergy (ISAA) said here on Saturday.

Addressing a congress held at the venue of Tehran Imam Khomeini Hospital to mark World Asthma Day, Mostafa Moeen said one in three Tehranis suffer from the affliction and the condition are becoming more common among the children and young adults.
Blaming traffic pollution for causing asthma, Moeen said that the number of people who suffer from asthma in Tehran has soared in recent years, adding that there was 35% increase in number of those with symptoms related to asthma attacks.
Dyspnea, wheezing, stridor, coughing, an inability for physical exertion are among the symptoms of the disease.
In some individuals asthma is characterized by chronic respiratory impairment. In others it is an intermittent illness marked by episodic symptoms that may result from a number of triggering events, including upper respiratory infection, stress, airborne allergens, air pollutants (such as smoke or traffic fumes), or exercise.
The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) said that 300 million people in the world suffered from asthma, and there were over 250 000 asthma-related deaths each year.
An estimated 5.1% to 7.5% of people in Iran have asthma, Moeen said, adding “The number of asthmatics in the world is predicted to increase to 400 million by the end of 2020.”
Moeen said large epidemiological studies have shown that asthma is on the rise throughout the world, stressing that the number of asthma related deaths is also predicted to increase to 10 million by the end of 2020.
International studies looking at the severity of asthma in the world showed that by implementing a standardized treatment regimen it dramatically decreased incidents for the majority of patients while the number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations decreased by more than 70%.
This increase is mostly in low- and middle-income countries, where access to treatment -- even to the essential asthma drugs recommended by the World Health Organization -- is particularly difficult and costly