Table 2.

Incidence rate of asthma by gender, age and socioeconomic status

Group	Year	Total patients (n)	New patients with asthma (n)	Age–sex standardized rate per 1000 patient-years (95% CI)*	Relative % change in standardized rate (from 2001)
Gender
Women	2001	1,444,314	10,241	7.3 (7.2–7.4)
	2005	1,485,738	8159	5.6 (5.5–5.7)	–23.2
Men	2001	1,420,624	8642	6.5 (6.4–6.6)
	2005	1,472,628	6711	4.8 (4.7–4.9)	–25.8
Age band (years)
0–4	2001	126,348	2891	22.9 (22.1–23.7)
	2005	125,020	1781	14.3 (13.6–14.9)	–38.4
5–14	2001	366,063	4153	11.4 (11.0–11.7)
	2005	361,784	3033	8.4 (8.1–8.7)	–27.0
15–44	2001	1,187,858	6248	5.3 (5.1–5.4)
	2005	1,226,462	5459	4.5 (4.3–4.6)	–12.6
45–64	2001	710,416	3429	4.8 (4.7–5.0)
	2005	757,380	2892	3.8 (3.7–4.0)	–15.7
65+	2001	474,253	2162	4.6 (4.4–4.8)
	2005	487,720	1705	3.5 (3.3–3.7)	–21.1
Deprivation
Quintile 1†	2001	634,434	3785	6.3 (6.1–6.5)
	2005	648,634	2834	4.6 (4.4–4.8)	–26.5
Quintile 2	2001	565,812	3440	6.5 (6.2–6.7)
	2005	580,431	2681	4.9 (4.7–5.1)	–24.2
Quintile 3	2001	536,218	3489	6.9 (6.7–7.1)
	2005	552,702	2783	5.3 (5.1–5.5)	–22.9
Quintile 4	2001	497,925	3515	7.4 (7.1–7.6)
	2005	515,271	2765	5.5 (5.3–5.8)	–24.8
Quintile 5	2001	535,216	4139	8.0 (7.7–8.2)
	2005	567,835	3361	6.0 (5.8–6.2)	–24.2

^*Crude rates are reported by age band

^†Most affluent group of patients