The NHS has advised parents to ensure their children have a spare inhaler as the new school term begins, warning that asthma attacks among children aged one to 14 triple during this period. Data from Public Health England shows a sharp rise in GP visits and hospital admissions for asthma at the start of the school year.
Experts attribute the spike to factors such as increased circulation of coughs and colds in classrooms, changing weather, and children falling out of their medication routines over the summer holidays. Jacqueline Cornish, national clinical director for children and young people at NHS England, emphasised the importance of simple measures like providing a spare inhaler for school and consulting a pharmacist.
Dr Andy Whittamore, clinical lead at Asthma UK, described the 'Back to School' effect as potentially life-threatening. He urged parents to give schools a reliever inhaler and a copy of the child's asthma action plan, and to ensure children take their preventer inhaler regularly to build airway protection.
A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health analysed GP visits for asthma between 2012 and 2016, finding that rates fell during school holidays but rose sharply in September. For children aged up to four, daily GP visits were more than three times higher during the back-to-school period compared to summer holidays, and more than twice as high for five to 14-year-olds.
The research also noted that A&E visits for worsening asthma peaked at the start of the school year. Possible triggers include changes in weather, air pollution, stress of starting school, and seasonal viruses. The authors called for more preventive work to reduce the impact of back-to-school asthma.
According to ONS data, more than 12,700 people died from asthma in England and Wales over the past decade, with over 1,400 deaths in 2018 alone—an 8% increase from 2017 and a 33% rise since 2008.
