Most adults with asthma unaware they are affected

Zhou Jun, vice-president of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said the research will play a significant role in bringing awareness to respiratory diseases and improving the prevention and control of chronic diseases in China.

"It will provide an important scientific basis for the formulation of asthma prevention and treatment policies in China," he said.

Shen Kunling, a professor of pediatrics at Beijing Children's Hospital, said that in addition to the vast number of adult asthma patients, China also has around 10 million minors with the disease who also deserve attention.

National surveys done over the past three decades have shown the incidence of asthma among people under 14 years old in urban areas in China has been increasing by 50 percent every 10 years, she said.

In many cases, respiratory diseases among adults are connected with poor health conditions when they are infants, including premature birth and serious lung infections, so reducing the incidence of asthma among the whole population should start with children, she said.