Huang K, et al. - Via analysis of a representative sample of 57,779 adults aged ≥ 20 years—who were recruited for the national cross-sectional China Pulmonary Health (CPH) study using a multi-stage stratified sampling method—researchers determined the national prevalence of asthma. With a standard asthma questionnaire, all participants were evaluated and classified as either having or not having airflow limitation through pulmonary function tests pre- and post-bronchodilator use. The prevalence of asthma was associated with cigarette smoking, childhood pneumonia or bronchitis, parental history of respiratory disease, and low education attainment. Out of 2,032 asthma patients, only 28.8% were recorded as ever receiving a clinical diagnosis. Further, at least one emergency room visit was reported in 15.5% people with asthma, and one hospital admission due to aggravation of respiratory symptoms was reported for 7.2% patients within the preceding year. Thus, asthma was observed as quite prevalent but hugely undiagnosed and undertreated in China. The investigators concluded that, in order to reduce the disease burden, it may be necessary to raise asthma awareness and disseminate standardized treatment in clinical settings.