This shows the variation in the prevalence of diagnosed asthma from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). This was generally lower than the prevalence of symptoms suggestive of asthma attacks, although the size of the difference varied. This suggests that there are variations in the extent to which people are labelled as asthmatic, which may reflect differences in illness behaviour, access to services or diagnostic fashion.

This also shows the prevalences of taking medication for asthma, which ranged from 0.6% (Estonia) to 6.8% (Norwich, UK). This variation is not entirely explained by differences in the prevalence of symptoms, suggesting that there are differences across Europe in the type of medical care given to asthmatics.