Increase in older Bajans being diagnosed with asthma

More Barbadians are being diagnosed with asthma in their 40s and 50s.

This has been revealed by Head of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Respiratory Unit, Dr. Dawn Alleyne.

Dr. Alleyne, who is a Pulmonologist/Intensivist and also head of the Department of Medicine notes traditionally in Barbados, individuals presented with asthma in childhood and either grew out of it as they got older, or lived with it as adults.

However, this has changed.

She revealed the incidence of asthma in the Caribbean, including Barbados, has increased 17-fold since the 1970s.

These trends are correlated with the increase in Sahara dust plumes and the frequency of the dust in the atmosphere.

She further notes about 20% of the local population had asthma.

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