1712 521,000 $ 6.16b $ 5.68b $ 482.1m

respiratory hospitalisations per 100,000 people in 2015 people take medicine for asthma economic burden in 2013. Of that . . . indirect costs from mortality and disability direct costs from hospitalisations, prescriptions and doctors’ visits by 16.4 hospitalisations a year since 2000 but at a sharper rate since 2008.

It also estimated the economic burden to the country was at least $6.16b in 2013. Of that $5.68b were indirect costs from mortality and disability and the remaining $482.1 million were direct costs from hospitalisations, prescriptions and doctors’ visits. Asthma was calculated separately with a total cost of $858.2m.

Report author Dr Lucy TelfarBarnard said the respiratory health of Pacific Islanders was consistently poorest compared with other ethnic groups, followed by Maori.

The reasons for the worsening rates of respiratory illnesses and hospitalisations seemed to be poverty and the lack of access to quality housing, she told the Herald.

Overcrowding, damp housing and obesity were all factors in respiratory illnesses.

Telfar-Barnard said improved access to housing and less crowding would be a huge first step in reducing the numbers.

Reducing poverty and inequality, improving access to healthcare and increasing health literacy would also improve the situation, she said.