(Radio Iowa) About one in ten Iowans has asthma, a rate that’s a little higher than in most other states. Dr. Michelle Freemer, director of the Asthma Program in the Division of Lung Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, says asthma is a chronic airway disease that’s characterized by occasional worsening of inflammation which makes it harder to breathe.

It’s important to learn about advances in preventing, understanding, treating and managing asthma, as Freemer notes, it’s one of the country’s most common and most expensive diseases.

Anyone at any age can develop asthma, but research has found that boys tend to have asthma more often than girls, while women are more likely to have asthma than men.

While there’s no cure for asthma, it is manageable. During the pandemic, asthma attacks dropped significantly in a large study group of children and teens. Researchers believe a better understanding of the factors that contributed to these improved outcomes could lead to better asthma control. For more information, visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov/breathebetter.