Asthma
From ArticleWorld
Asthma is a physical disease of the human respiratory system which causes airways narrow, often this is in response to a "trigger" such as exposure to an allergen, cold air, exercise, or even emotional stress.
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In children
In young children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the flu or the common cold. This airway narrowing causes symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, gasping for air, chest tightness, and coughing. Between episodes, most patients feel completely fine.
Symptoms
The disorder is typically chronicinflammatory condition in which the airways develop increased responsiveness to various stimuli, this is characterized by bronchial hyper-responsiveness, inflammation, increased mucus production, soreness, and intermittent airway obstruction.
The symptoms of asthma, which can range from mild to life threatening, can usually be controlled with a combination of drugs and certain lifestyle changes.
Public awareness
Public attention in the developed world has recently focused on asthma due to its rapidly increasing prevalence. It is affecting up to one in four urban children. Susceptibility to asthma can be explained to some extent by genetic factors, but no clear pattern of inheritance has ever been found.
Asthma is a complex disease that has been influenced by multiple genetic, developmental, and environmental factors. These all can interact to produce the overall condition at hand.
Prognosis
The prognosis for asthmatics is actually very good, especially for children with mild disease issues. For asthmatics diagnosed during childhood, 54% will no longer carry the condition after a decade.
The extent of permanent lung damage in asthmatics is still unclear. Airway remodeling has been observed, but it is still unknown whether these represent harmful or beneficial changes.
Overview of treatments
Although conclusions from studies are often mixed, most studies show that very early treatment with glucocorticoids helps prevent the decline in lung function as measured by a number parameters.
For those who continue to suffer from mild symptoms, corticosteroids can help most to live their lives with few minor disabilities.
The mortality rate for asthma is relatively low, with around 6000 deaths per year in a population of roughly 10 million patients in the United States. Better control of the condition may help prevent some of these deaths from occurring.