Introduction:

Asthma is one of the most costly diseases for the national health system, due to the substantial resources required for its treatment and prevention.

Objective:

To describe the costs of asthma, both direct and indirect, nationally and internationally.

Development:

A bibliographic review was carried out at national and international level, in order to know the magnitude of the economic resources required for the control of this disease. The national and international data presented, both in economic terms and in epidemiological aspects, clearly indicated that asthma has a considerable socioeconomic effect on public health in different countries, since most of the total cost of asthma is derived from poor control of the disease, expressed both in indirect costs, as well as an important part of the direct costs that comprised expenses for hospitalization, visits to medical emergencies, etc.

Conclusions:

It is essential to have the necessary knowledge about the economic aspects of asthma, because of the importance of the costs of medical care for health institutions, the implications of the expenses for the patient himself and the families, as well as the indirect costs due to the loss of labor productivity of people afflicted with this disease.

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