Long-Term Survival of a Cohort of Community Residents with Asthma

Asthma-associated mortality is reported to have increased in the United States and throughout the world 1 – 11 . The reports are derived from vital statistics on the number of deaths per capita, classified according to their underlying causes in a geographic region during a specific period, usually one year. Such studies are limited by the degree of accuracy of the underlying causes of death as stated on the death certificates and by the investigators' ability to estimate the size of a changing population. Moreover, there is no assessment of the population actually at risk -- that is, people with asthma. An . . .