A medical expert, Prof. Emmanuel Bamidele, has said that asthma patients usually possess higher IQ than non-patients.
He spoke during the free screening exercise and lecture organised by the Nigeria Thoracic Society, one of the societies in the fore-front of caring for asthma patients to mark this year’s world asthma
day.
The theme for this year’s event is; ‘You can control asthma- preventing asthma death. ‘
According to Professor Bamidele, “ Studies have shown that asthmatics have higher IQ than the normal population out there. Some great personalities with asthma include a former president of United States of America, the world’s richest man, Bill Gates and various people who have won world championships in athletics.
According to the expert; “A person should be confident to say I have asthma.”
Asthma, which is a long-term lung disease that inflames and narrows the airwaves resulting in wheezing, difficulty during breathing and coughing.
It is commemorated world-wide on every first Tuesday in May.
Dr Victor Umoh, Consultant Chest physician , University of Uyo , quest speaker at the event gave a shocking statistics of asthma deaths in Nigeria occasioned through ignorance and lack of early detection of the ailment.
According to him,” Asthma affects over 300 million people in the world and it usually starts from childhood and affects all age groups. In Nigeria, studies have shown that about six million of Nigerians may be suffering from asthma and that less than a thousand people have been diagnosed. So majority of Nigerians suffer in silence”.
