By Jo Skinner
Doctors say more research is needed to understand why the Sunshine Coast-Gympie region has the third highest rate of asthma in Australia.
Almost 12 per cent of people across the area have been diagnosed with asthma, that equates to about 42,000 people.
The chairman of Sunshine Coast Medicare Local, Dr Peter Dobson, says it is still not known why the region has such a high prevalence of asthma.
“We don’t really know,” he said.
“It’s quite frustrating that more research is not going into the causes of asthma so we can get to the base root of what the problem might be – whether it be genetic or otherwise but gee it’s really frustrating not to see a vaccine or a product or whatever that will maybe cure asthma.”