Approximately one in five or more than 50
million (53,980,772) Americans suffer from allergic diseases.
An estimated 37,786,541 Americans have a pollen
allergy.
Between six and seven million adults in the US
have a food allergy.
Roughly 20 million Americans have asthma --
three times as many as 25 years ago. One in eight children suffer
from the disease.
It is estimated that 12,000,000 American have
food allergies.
In 2002, approximately 14 million office visits
to health care providers were attributed to allergic rhinitis.
Allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic
disease in the United States, costing the health care system $18
billion annually.
Chronic sinusitis is the most commonly reported
chronic disease, affecting 16.3% of people (nearly 32 million) in
the United States in 1997.
It was estimated in 1998 that increased
absenteeism and reduced productivity due to allergies cost U.S.
companies more than $250 million.
The estimated overall costs of allergic
rhinitis in the United States in 1996 totaled $6 billion.
The Cincinnati Children's Hospital states that
not only has the number of children suffering from allergies
increased, so has the severity of the allergic reactions.
Over 6 million people in Canada have allergies.
An estimated 4,182,998 Canadians suffer from
pollen allergies.
12% of Canadian children are affected by asthma
and it continues to be a major cause of hospitalization in Canada.
In 1993, over $12 billion was spent on
asthma.