State has highest rate of asthma in country

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.

For Bernadine Lewandowski of Las Vegas, it starts with the tightness in her chest, followed quickly by shortness of breath and wheezing. On good days, she's able to curtail the asthma attack with an inhaler. On bad days, she winds up in the emergency room.

For the past two years, it's been more bad days than ever.

"I hate it, I really hate it," Lewandowski said from her bed Thursday at University Medical Center, where she has spent the past week being treated following a severe attack. "You can't do anything when you can't breathe right."

A new study being released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta shows Nevada has the highest rate of adult asthma in the nation, with 13.4 percent of state's population reporting instances of the respiratory disorder. That's nearly double the findings of a 1998 CDC report that showed asthma occuring in about 7.2 percent of the state's population.

Nevada has some of the highest levels of air pollution in the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The state's primary source of pollution comes from particulate matter which has been linked in some studies to increases in asthma. The Trust for America's Health, a Baltimore-based advocacy group, chided Nevada last month for failing to track asthma among its residents, and urged legislators to support funds for a national health database.

Researchers aren't certain how people initially develop the disease, but they do know once a person has asthma, attacks can be triggered by various physical and environmental factors. Having another illness, such as a cold, can cause an attack, as can exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke or high levels of pollution. Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke during their first two years of life are significantly more likely to develop respiratory diseases, including asthma, the CDC reports.

Lewandowski, 51, says she's more likely to have an attack on days when the humidity and wind are up. When she hears air quality warnings on the radio or television she stays indoors and follows her doctor's orders to avoid exercise. Her daughter, Cystine, keeps a close eye -- and ear -- on her mother.

"My daughter can hear the wheezing before I do by now," Lewandowski said.

If a person waits too long to get help an attack can be fatal, according to the American Lung Association. Some people don't take a smaller attack seriously and are unprepared when a second wave hits, the association said.

Nearly 14 American adults suffer from asthma, the CDC reports, and another 6 million people say they've had the respiratory disorder at some point in their lives. The latest study, which surveyed 180,000 adults, showed asthma to be more common in females, with 9.1 percent of the women reporting bouts of the ailment, compared with 5.1 percent of the men.

Asthma accounts for about $12.7 billion in health care costs each year, the CDC said.