Pollution and Asthma: Is There a Connection? Essay

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that impacts a person’s and their family’s quality of life. In people with asthma, their airway becomes constricted with swelling and excessive mucous. This constriction or narrowing of the airway makes it difficult for the person with asthma to breath (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009). If asthma is left uncontrolled, it leads to further wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and stress. (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009).

Asthma itself is an inflammatory disease characterized by increased airway responsiveness due to a variety of stimulus. The inflammation causes the hyper-responsiveness than in turn causes bronchiolar smooth muscle constriction, resulting in obstruction of airflow. Some

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the bronchial mucosa and hyperreactive bronchial tubes. Its etiology has been linked to both genetic and environmental factors. Several genes, including those that influence the production of proteins and cells involved in the immune response (such as interleukins, eosinophils, mast cells) have been linked with asthma. A decreased number of T-regulatory cells is also associated with asthma. Environmental factors linked with asthma include exposure to allergens, urban residence, and smoking (or exposure to secondary smoke). Recurrent respiratory tract viral infections may also contribute to the development of asthma. Decreased exposure to certain infectious organisms during early childhood, and the consequent underdevelopment of the immune response, can also lead to the development of asthma--this is known as the hygiene hypothesis (McCance & Huether, 2014, p. 1263-4).

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.

The sign and symptoms of an asthma attack include coughing that worsens at night or early in the morning, shortness of breath, chest tightness or wheezing sounds that occurs when breathing. Some symptoms go away without no treatment. However, severe asthma attacks require immediate emergency care. There is no cure for asthma because the disease will always be present. Even if an individual feels well, there’s always the possibility of something triggering an Asthma attack.

The bronchi and bronchiole tubes are loosely wrapped with muscle. During regular breathing, the muscles around these airways are relaxed (5). This allows air to flow freely through these passageways to the alveoli. However, during an asthma attack, air has trouble reaching the alveoli, which prevents the body from receiving oxygen. This is because the airways become smaller. Firstly, the muscles around the airways spasm and contract. This then causes inflammation of the bronchioles and bronchi themselves, which causes a mucus to be produced.

Hay fever is the single most common chronic allergic disease. This is the most common trigger for someone with asthma and allergies to get symptoms. Exercise-induced asthma-This is caused by exercise or physical exertion. With exercise-induced asthma, airway narrowing peaks 5-20 minutes after exercise begins. An asthma inhaler will help to prevent these uncomfortable asthma symptoms. Cough-variant asthma-With this type of asthma, severe coughing is the predominant symptom. Cough-variant asthma is vastly underdiagnosed and undertreated. The main triggers for this type are usually respiratory infections and exercise. Occupational asthma-This results from only workplace triggers. Many people will suffer with a runny nose, congestion, eye irritation, or have a cough instead of wheezing. Some jobs associated with this type of asthma are animal breeders, farmers, hairdressers, nurses, and painters. Nighttime asthma-If you have asthma, the chances of you having symptoms are much higher during sleep because asthma is powerfully influenced by the sleep-wake cycle. So your asthma symptoms are particularly dangerous at nighttime (WEBMD).

Asthma is as a result of allergic reaction that leads to blockage of bronchitis. This reduces the air flow in and out of someone's lungs. The chest feels blocked which leads to wheezing. Cold air, dust, pollen dust, humidity, some food preservatives, certain medications, stress and elevated emotions are triggers to bouts of asthmatic

Throughout the years knowledge about asthma has grown, as well as treating it effectively. Over 300 million people are said to be victims of this disease with another 100 million being estimated by 2025 globally (Currie and Baker, 2012). In the United Kingdom, asthma is increasingly becoming one of the leading disease affecting individual of different age, ethnicity, race and gender. British Lung Foundation (2011) stated that it is more common at childhood stage and can also occur at a later age. According to Asthma UK (2014) asthma in men is less prevalence than it is in women and children troubled more with asthma than adults. Recent data in the UK shows that in children and occupational asthma in adult is on the rise with an estimate

In most cases it starts in childhood or early adulthood. However, it can happen later in life. Unlike childhood asthma, adult onset asthma often has persistent symptoms (Wenzel, 2012). A large percentage of adult onset asthma is brought on by allergies (Levy, et al., 2014). Childhood asthma can lie dormant for a number of years and reappear in late adulthood (Wenzel, 2012).

Allergy induced asthma can be caused by allergies that range from pollen and pet dander to roaches

Did you know that Asthmatic attacks can be triggered by allergens, exercise, smoke, pollution, and airway infections?Asthma is when the airways inflame and narrow. Asthma is a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. It usually results from an allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity. This respiratory diseases can be found in children and adults of any age , but they both do have differences in the ways that it could affect the human body.Asthma attacks can appear in adults but usually starts during one's childhood. Asthma is one of the most common respiratory problem that can be controlled with different medications , for example shots can be given, inhalers etc. Asthma attack can happen often to a person but there are also solutions that can calm the attacks but, not every asthma patient can react to the same medications.

The most common symptoms of asthma are chest tightness, recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness and as stated before narrowing of the airways (National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, 1997). In an early-preschool child, it is difficult to diagnose if a child has asthma, as many illnesses such as bronchiolitis, and many upper respiratory tract infections can all manifest in similar ways or have overlapping clinical characteristics of asthma (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIWH], 2009). The exact cause of asthma isn 't yet known but researchers believe some hereditary and environmental factors interact to create a foundation for asthma. These factors could be the parents of the child having

Childhood asthma impacts scores of youngsters and their families. In fact, the bulk of kids develop respiratory illness before the age of

Experts have yet to understand why the rates of asthma are rising by an average of 50% every decade worldwide. According to the Asthma Society of Canada (2016), asthma is now considered to be a major health concern with approximately 235 million suffering from this illness worldwide. Kuhn et al (2015) states that as at 2012, one out of 12 people in the United States had asthma and the number continues to rise. More people have been diagnosed with this disease and in 2007; over 3000 deaths were linked to Asthma. Furthermore, the costs of treating asthma continue to rise with about 56 billion dollars being spent in 2007 compared to $53 billion in 2002 (CDC, 2011). From data gathered in California, which is our area of study, it was estimated that 2.3 million