Asthma Among Pediatric Patients
Brittney Crowell
The University of Tennessee at Martin
Introduction
Asthma is a common disease seen in the children of our society. As healthcare workers, we need to be prepared to perform interventions in a timely matter for an asthmatic child. Information from this paper was gathered from various medical professional research literatures. The purpose of this paper is to inform readers of how asthma affects a child’s ability to breathe, signs and symptoms of an asthma attack, how asthma is diagnosed, treatment options for asthma, and the importance of parent education.
Pathophysiology and Etiology
Asthma can best be described as a chronic inflammatory disease involving the pulmonary airways, and bronchial hyper responsiveness that results in lower airway obstruction (Kudo, Ishigatsubo, & Aoki, 2013). The pathophysiology of asthma involves airway inflammation, intermittent airflow obstruction, and bronchial hyper responsiveness (Kudo et al., 2013). It is now considered to be an assortment of several diseases that have similar characteristics and symptoms (London et al., 2017). Cells that were learned to be associated to airway inflammation include mast cells, eosinophils, epithelial cells, macrophages, and activated T lymphocytes (Mims, 2015). These cells influence smooth muscle tone and contribute to remodeling of the airway. Airway hyper responsiveness in asthma occurs from an overactive response to numerous organisms found from
Asthma is a chronic disorder of the airways that is characterized by reversible airway obstruction, cellular infiltration, and airway inflammation. The response involves the interplay of genetic and environmental factors, as well as the activation of cells in the innate and adaptive immune systems.1 (Hall, S.C et al. 2016)
Asthma is a respiratory disease that many people deal with every single day. “According to World Health Organization, approximately 180,000 people die from asthma each year.” (Jardins and Burton 187) Most people never think of asthma as a life threatening disease, but it can be crucial. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this disease. Asthma is a severe breathing problem that has many complications that is dealt with daily like shortness of breath, chronic cough, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath, my main focus is childhood asthma, allergic asthma, and medication to treat asthma.
A mother put her her toddlers to sleep in the same room together, later that night she tragically found both of them doing the same thing.
Asthma is a chronic condition affecting the respiratory system and has a considerable impact on both individuals and a population. Everybody is susceptible to asthma, some more than others, depending of a variety of factors including, age, sex, geographical location and income. Asthma is particularly prevalent in younger children and the elderly and while it can be fatal, most people have mild cases of asthma that are relatively easy to treat. The condition mainly impacts an individual’s physical ability to contribute to a community.
About 10% of American children have asthma (Thakur et al., 2013). It is vital to understand what determinants cause childhood asthma to understand even with a low percentage, why it is still present. According to Williams et al., asthma is a health outcome which is a major impact on American youth (Williams et al., 2009). This health outcome not only impacts them throughout the years of being a child, but it has the potential of creating more serious health problems in the future. And without knowing what the causes are, it increases the rate asthma among children and prevents treatments from being implemented. It needs to be addressed by using results from prior studies in order to show how much of a problem childhood asthma is but also in finding and understanding the other underlying
Inflammation of the airways is an important component of asthma. Inflammation can make your airways more sensitive and more narrow than usual, making it harder to breathe. The airways in the lungs may react to various triggers and become more inflamed. The muscles around the airways can also tighten. All these can reduce airflow in your airways and can cause asthma symptoms.
Murk, W., Risnes, K. R., & Bracken, M. B. (2011). Prenatal or early-life exposure to antibiotics and risk of childhood asthma: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 127(6), 1125-1138
Asthma during childhood occurs more commonly in boys than girls. In adulthood, asthma is more commonly seen in women than men and is caused by exposure to allergens. Some symptoms felt during an asthma attack include wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing, especially at night. Not everyone with asthma are affected by symptoms in the same manner. Some may experience mild or severe symptoms at different times. Some people may go long periods of time without experiencing any symptoms, interrupted by periodic worsening of symptoms called asthma attacks. For example, some people may experience asthma only during exercise, or with viral infections, such as colds or the flu. The more common attacks that occur are mild. Normally,
As a county public health official you have a goal to Improve the county’s profile on RWJF’s County Health Rankings. To achieve this you are trying to outline a plan to address the high rates of childhood asthma in the community. Here is a case that illustrates the problems faced. Raeshawn is an 11-year-old African-American boy who experiences difficulty breathing during gym class at school. He’s had prior hospitalizations due to his asthma. He lives in a housing development with ongoing problems with roaches and rodents. He walks to school, which is near a major highway. His mother, a single mom, is a smoker and is working two jobs to support Raeshawn and his sisters. The family has no insurance, but is assisted by Medicaid. They have
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among American infants and children. When exposed to triggers, such as breathing in airborne pollen or having a respiratory infection, the lungs and airways become inflamed. Bothersome daily symptoms may interfere with a child’s day-to-day life, such as play time, school, playing sports, and sleep. When this disease is not managed properly, asthma attacks can be life threatening. Asthma is the same disease in pediatrics and adults, but youngsters face unique challenges. Childhood asthma is one of the top causes of emergency room visits, hospital stays and days missed from school. Regrettably, there is no cure for asthma and the symptoms may continue into adulthood, but with the right treatment
Asthma affects more than an estimated 300 million people in the world [1]. Patients with asthma experience a specific pattern of inflammation in the airways characterized by degranulated mast cells, an infiltration of eosinophils, and an increased number of activated T-helper 2 cells. This results in increased responsiveness of the airways to such triggers as exercise, allergens, and air pollutants. There is also increasing evidence that structural cells of the airways, such as epithelia cells, smooth-muscle cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts, are a major source of inflammatory mediators in asthma [2]. The proper treatment of such an affliction for these individuals requires a solution which considers and resolves concerns
The pathophysiology of Asthma includes inflammation of the airway. The way in which this works is from an irritant which can include dust, pollen, cedar, or cat hair. When a reaction occurs, the airways become inflamed and narrow. The narrowing occurs because once the inflammatory response is triggered by an irritant, histamines, immunoglobulin E antibodies, and leukotrienes are released. Because of this, mucous production occurs. Since the bronchioles are inflamed and narrow, breathing becomes difficult. Wheezing sounds can be heard due to the lack of air being able to easily move in and out of the narrowed bronchioles.
Asthma is a chronic disease in which the airways of the patient become inflammed and can constrict the flow of air leading to difficulty in breathing and can cause symptoms like shortness of breath .In recent times there has been a rise in the number of cases of asthma reported among infants and children .The symptoms and signs for all children are not the same and may differ ,today with the growing pollution levels and the other types of allergies that the child may have it is very crucial to understand what is asthma and it's symptoms .The aim of my study is to summarize about the asthma disease in infants and children, under that I have discussed the following topics-introduction to pediatric asthma ,indications of asthma, risk factors
Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the respiratory system that affects both children and adults. It is the major cause of absenteeism in school-aged children, with an estimated average of 13 million missed school days in the year 2008 (CDC, 2015). Asthma is also considered to be the third leading cause for hospitalizations among children under the age of 15 (Bruzzese et al., 2010). There is no cure for asthma currently but it can be controlled through avoidance or triggers. Triggers are what cause asthma symptoms to occur. Symptoms of asthma are shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing and tightness of chest. Studies show there is a lack of communication between teachers, parents and school nurses. Interventions for school staff especially
Ancy, I think you would not have chosen a more popular pediatric topic. Pediatric asthma has become a serious global health problem with an increasing prevalence. Just as you noted, asthma has contributed immensely to loss of school days every year. Furthermore, it has been recorded that asthma could considerably impair a child’s social interaction and academic achievement (Naik & Ravikumar, 2017). Good luck with your