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”.