A new report has revealed that more South Australian children are hospitalised because of their asthma than anywhere else in the country.
Despite the rate of asthma being consistent with the rest of the nation, the state's hospitalisation rate is significantly higher than the national average according to Asthma Australia's new State of Asthma in South Australia report.
Between 2011 and 2013, 361 children per 100,000 on average presented to South Australian hospitals, above the rates for NSW and Victoria.
There were only 157 presentations per 100,000 people in Tasmania, which has the highest prevalence at 12.6 per cent.
Asthma Australia chief executive Michele Goldman said the number of hospital cases in South Australia was unusual and finding out why was the "magic question".
She said the condition was often overlooked in GP appointments, which could make management of it tricky.
"There's not enough time currently in the system to provide the education that's required so that people with asthma understand the condition, understand the role of preventer medication and have the tools they need to self-manage the condition well," Ms Goldman said.
With an average GP appointment time between six to 15 minutes, she said asthma did not get the attention it deserved.
"We have many competing health priorities in Australia and people have busy lives, GPs are confronting a whole range of different conditions and have the challenge of keeping up-to-date on all of them," she said.
Gawler Belt resident Ellen Heinz-Faulkner told the ABC she thought she was going to lose her four-year-old son Marley in May this year.
She brought him to hospital after not being able to control an asthma attack at home.
"Seeing him not be able to move was one of the hardest things I've seen," she said.
"Seeing him scream for me in hospital, asking for help and why people were doing things to him, my heart was broken.
"It took a couple of weeks to realise he would be to okay and we weren't stuck on trying to realise what we would do with him."
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs where the airways become so obstructed the sufferer struggles to breathe.
It's vastly more prevalent in Western societies, and usually develops in childhood.
Asthma caused 45 deaths in South Australia in 2016.
At 2.61 deaths per 100,000 people, this was the second-highest rate, after Tasmania with 2.88 deaths per 100,000 people.
Among all people — not just children — South Australia's asthma hospitalisation rate was slightly above average.
The list was topped by Queensland with 161.3 asthma hospitalisations per 100,000 people in 2009.
