Children miss an estimated 360,000 school days each year due to asthma. (File image) Photo: AFP
The number of New Zealanders hampered by asthma or serious lung disease has grown by more than 40 percent in three years, new data shows.
The 2023 Impact of Respiratory Disease in New Zealand report, released on Monday, reveals one in five New Zealanders are affected by a respiratory illness - equating to about a million people.
The previous report, released in 2021, showed one in seven New Zealanders were affected, equivalent to about 700,000.
Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ chief executive Letitia Harding pointed to two key factors in the figures: the Covid pandemic and improvements seen in the diagnosis of asthma and chronic lung disease.
"You can see the prevalence of adult asthma as worse than what it was.
"Maybe we're identifying it earlier and more accurately which means people can go onto better medication which is now available.
"You can't cure something like asthma."
Respiratory disease accounts for one in 11 hospital admissions and is the third leading cause of death in New Zealand.
Covid-19 restrictions had somewhat tempered the figures, particularly for more vulnerable groups, Harding said.
"Those figures would've certainly been higher for people that we know Covid can be more devastating for and end in mortalities.
"For the population we're looking at, those restrictions were certainly good."
For adults and children, asthma rates for both categories uniformly sat at one in eight who were affected.
"That's where we want to try and diagnose that early so we can get onto it effectively," Harding said.
The report said the cost of respiratory disease to New Zealand was estimated at nearly $8.5 billion every 12 months.
"It's a significant area that still needs attention."
NZ leads the world in asthma management
The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ was pushing for urgent new and extended programmes to reduce "severe ethnic and socio-economic inequalities" in respiratory disease. Another recommendation was initiatives to improve housing quality.
"The healthy homes are crucial," Harding said.
"We hear so often from our specialists and nurse practitioners of kids who go in and out of hospital over winter ... they're in ED with several bouts of pneumonia.
"That causes a devastating impact on the lungs.
"We've got to look at these cold damp homes."
The return-to-school period also increased the risk of respiratory hospitalisation for children, and an estimated 360,000 school days were lost each year because of asthma.
Around the country, the West Coast had the highest mortality rate for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while Tairāwhiti and Counties Manukau had the highest rate for bronchiectasis.
The Mid Central region (Manawatū) had the highest asthma rate.
Foundation medical director Professor Bob Hancox said it was clear that respiratory disease continued to cause "a great deal of suffering" for New Zealanders.
However, hospitalisations for asthma and COPD were trending down, exceeding the foundation's target of a 25 percent reduction by 2025.
"This likely reflects the improvements in prevention and care of these conditions that the foundation has been advocating for years," Hancox said.
"However, we must acknowledge that far too many people still suffer unnecessarily from conditions that could be prevented or treated more effectively."
The report's lead author Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard said access to new data meant the true scope of respiratory disease in New Zealand was more explicit .
"There are practical steps we can take like staying home when sick, keeping our flu vaccinations up to date, and ensuring good ventilation in our homes, schools, and workplaces."