?Asthma is a very common condition and around 3.4 million people in the United Kingdom have asthma, including 1.5 million children.

?That means about one in 25 adults in the UK have asthma and about one in seven children. Over 100 million people worldwide have asthma.

?Research is indicating that asthma is on the increase. In one study the number of children reporting an asthma attack in the last year was almost three times as high in 1992 as it had been in 1982.

?Asthma can start at any time of life. Two-thirds of people get symptoms during childhood, but some people can be in their 60s or 70s before it develops.

?Will I grow out of asthma? It is impossible to decide whether any one person is likely to 'grow out of' asthma symptoms. Research has shown that only about one in three children with asthma lose their asthma completely as they grow older. Some children do find their asthma gets better during the teenage years, but it can come back in later life.

?Can you die from asthma? Deaths from asthma do occur, but they are extremely rare. In the last 10 years, the number of deaths from asthma has decreased in every age group except for those over 75. Better treatments for asthma and better understanding of the condition now mean that you shouldn't need to worry about your asthma getting out of control.

?Will my asthma get worse as I get older? Not necessarily. In fact, asthma can get better during adult life. Being realistic, we should accept that asthma is often a long term condition, but it is not necessarily one that will get worse. If you take your preventer treatments regularly, this will improve your long term chances of controlling your asthma.

?Is there a cure for asthma? Unfortunately not. One thing is certain though, the outlook for asthma research has never looked so good. Researchers are tackling asthma from many different directions: indoor and outdoor pollution, allergies, gene therapy, cell biology and chemical structures, to name just a few. The results of their work will help us understand much more about how and why this common condition develops.

?What causes asthma? It is difficult to say for sure. Asthma, like its related allergic conditions eczema and hay fever, often runs in families and may not be inherited. There are probably a number of other environmental factors that contribute to someone developing asthma - many aspects of modern lifestyles, such as housing and diet, might be responsible. We also know that smoking during pregnancy increasing the chance of a child developing asthma. Outdoor air pollution has not been proven to cause asthma although it can make the symptoms of asthma worse.