A new study from the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America is calling Knoxville the asthma capital in the U.S. for 2005.

Memphis came in at number two, followed by Louisville, KY, Toledo, OH and Washington DC.

Dr. Bob Overholt, a Knoxville allergy and asthma specialist, says the findings don’t surprise him.

“This is an allergy prone area,” he explains. “There’s also a lot of poverty, more cigarette smoking. There’s more pollution in this area. All those things drive the immune system toward developing allergies and people having allergic asthma.”

Asthma affects more than 20 million Americans and costs $14 billion each year in medical expenses.
Nationally, asthmatics miss more than 14 million days of school and work each year.