Knoxville Named 2008 Asthma Capital
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Knoxville Rises Again For the third time in five years, Knoxville has been ranked as the #1 Asthma Capital, a distinction it also had in the 2004 and 2005 rankings. The factors that have helped to lift Knoxville to the top spot again include higher than average annual pollen levels, high air pollution, lack of 100% smoke-free laws, patient over-use of asthma rescue medications and other important factors. Don't Move - Improve More than 20 million children and adults live with asthma all over the U.S., making it one of the most common and costly diseases. Experts agree that people can't move away from their asthma since every city in America has a variety of risk factors. Instead, people should work with an asthma specialist to have a good asthma management plan no matter where they live. Top Asthma Capitals for 2008 2008 Rankings 1. Knoxville, TN 2. Tulsa, OK 3. Milwaukee, WI 4. Atlanta, GA 5. Memphis, TN 6. Allentown, PA 7. Charlotte, NC 8. Greenville, SC 9. St. Louis, MO 10. Greensboro, NC The Asthma Capitals is an annual research project to call attention to the asthma epidemic and to advocate for changes in each city to improve the quality of life for people with asthma. Rankings are based on analysis of 12 factors in three groups: * Prevalence Factors morbidity and mortality statistics * Risk Factors air quality, pollen, "100% smoke-free" laws, poverty and more * Medical Factors medication usage and access to specialists |
