Press release: “A new report on childhood asthma released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that death rates for asthma among children under age 18 have declined since 1999, while doctor visits for the condition have more than doubled over the past decade. In 2005, nearly 9 percent of children – 6.5 million children under age 18 – were reported to currently have asthma. The percentage of children who had asthma more than doubled between 1980 and 1995, from 3.6 percent to 7.5 percent. In 2001, CDC introduced a more precise measurement of asthma and the five years since then the trend has remained stable at historically high levels.”