Most consultations for lower respiratory disease are for infections (including pneumonia, influenza and acute bronchitis), asthma or COPD. This figure shows the patient consultation rates (with 95% confidence intervals) for children and adults in 1991-2. There is little ethnic variability in the proportion of children consulting for lower respiratory infections but about 40% more black children consult for asthma than do white children. Among adults, south Asians are most likely and blacks least likely to consult for infections. There is little difference between ethnic groups in patient consultation rates for asthma in adults. Significantly more white adults consult for COPD (which occurs mostly in the over 65s) than do blacks or south Asians.