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A 5-year study that was presented this month at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology finds that thunderstorms can trigger measurable increases in asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits. Researchers analyzed 4,439 asthma-related visits across 3 hospitals in Kansas from January 2020 to December 2024, during which time, they identified 38 thunderstorm days. Data showed the mean number of admissions on storm days (17.91) was significantly higher than on non-storm days (3.09), and a disproportionate number of visits (14%, or 627 cases) occurred on those storm days.
Asthma and age groups: Perhaps somewhat surprising, the authors identified older age as a significant predictor of storm-day ED presentations of asthma. More than 4 million Americans over the age of 65 have asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), but across all populations at any time of year, children tend to have more ED visits than adults.