Asthma in the elderly--a more severe disease.

Objective: To determine the severity of asthma in the elderly compared to the younger asthmatics. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: University outpatient asthma clinic. Subjects: Asthmatics seen over a 6 month period in 1997. Results: There were 154 patients and 16% were elderly (> 65 years) asthmatics. The elderly asthmatics were on significantly more anti-asthmatic medications (2.3 + 1.1 vs. 1.6 + 0.9, p < 0.001), and their clinical severity was significantly worse than their younger counterparts (Step 2.2 + 1.2 vs. 1.7 + 1.0, p < 0.001). Near-fatal asthma episodes were also more common in the elderly asthmatics (39% vs 13%, X 2 test p < 0.01). Conclusions: Elderly asthmatics appear to have more severe asthma as evidenced by the increase in near-fatal episodes, and their increased clinical severity.