Risk Factors For Childhood Asthma Development

As of 2009, studies conducted by the CDC have shown that asthma impacts approximately one in every twelve people, and the numbers only continue to grow (CDC, 2011). Some of the most common symptoms can range anywhere from coughing (especially at night or during exercise), wheezing and chest tightness, to shortness of breath. Asthma is often a chronic condition and while many times it can present itself as being mild, it can also sometimes lead to death if a person suffers an asthma attack. Asthma can be genetic, but it can also be caused, as well as exacerbated by, environmental factors such as air pollution. Studies have shown that children living in the Bronx are experiencing asthma at levels eight times higher than the national average. In addition, rates of death from asthma are a whopping three times higher than the national average, and hospitalization rates at about five times higher.” (Ruppell, 2000). Asthma is not a disease that targets only one group of people, yet the Bronx still exhibits disproportionately high levels of asthma especially in neighborhoods that are poorer areas of the city. In fact, people from these poor areas are 21 times more likely to be hospitalized due to asthmatic conditions compared to people from more affluent parts of the city (Ruppell,

At various stages of asthma, preventative measures can be used to control or alleviate the symptoms associated with this disease. Education is an important component to every intervention phase, particularly in primary prevention, because the patient is encouraged to be proactive with their personal health in order to avoid and control the triggers. Prescribed medication, such as an inhaler, and an action plan that is individualized to the specific care of a particular patient is essential in the secondary prevention phase. Finally, in the tertiary prevention phase, the care is directed not only at the common asthmatic symptoms and triggers but also at the complications that result from long-term suffering of this disease. This paper focuses on environmental factors which trigger asthma, with specific focus on children from infancy to 16 years of age in low-income housing, and how the appropriate measure can minimize the triggers and symptoms. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the example we will use.

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

For today’s analysis, the author has chosen the subject matter of school-aged children that experiences asthma. Asthma is a silent killer; the mortality rate is on the rise. Asthma is a chronic condition that hits home for the author and family. The author’s daughter has chronic asthma and environmental factors advance her symptoms. Other times when the air quality is cleaner, her daughter’s asthma symptoms go into remission. Many adults are unaware of the risks from the first and second-hand smoke. For example, in the author’s previous home, second-hand smoking triggered her daughter’s asthma attacks. As a result, the author lost countless homework hours and dollars because her daughter required

Asthmatic individuals can suffer from a reduced quality of life that is both physical and psychological. It was estimated in 2009 that approximately 17.5 million adults, and 7.1 million children suffer from asthma. An estimated total cost of this disease in 2010 was $20.7 billion dollars (Quality, 2014). This paper will focus on Pathopharmacological foundations, pathophysiology, pharmacological treatments, and the social and environmental impacts of asthma on our communities and nation.

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

A vital part of asthma control involves identifying environmental and lifestyle triggers and educating both parents and their children on how to minimize their effects. While on the mobile health vehicle, we will use this opportunity to encourage parents and students to attend our educational seminars about preventive measures families can take at home in order to reduce the amount of asthma triggers, therefore reducing the number of asthma attacks. We will hold one educational seminar per season during afterschool hours in order to talk about specific seasonal asthma triggers and overall interventions that families can do at home to. There is sufficient evidence of a causal relationship between asthma exacerbation and exposure to furry pets, cockroaches, house dust mite, mold, and environmental tobacco smoke (IOM

The main purpose of this article was for the authors to run an experiment to find out if there is any correlation between children who are admitted to the hospital for asthma exacerbations and where they live in proximity to major roadways. By doing this, they found that there appears to be a positive relationship between asthma occurrences and traffic exposures. This could be a more serious problem in heavily populated cities that have a lot of people living in a small area combined with busy roads. For a health care provider and others who work with a multicultural population, it is important to be aware of this link and other possible factors that could potentially cause asthma. By being aware of this study, nurses can potentially identify and treat patients that have symptoms of asthma much quicker.

A task force begins identifying asthma as one of the four, priority areas seeking immediate attention. The plan put together was called: Asthma and the Environment; a Strategy to Protect Children. In addition, to 5 other strategy ways that are called: strengthening and acceleration, implementation, establishment of coordination, and identification. These factors were later changed around 1999, making the task force remap a new strategy. This strategy improvised more questions, so the task team had to explain the cost of asthma. Next, was understand the primary reason for preventing the asthma rate to decrease. Studies were shown from National Health Interview Survey and Medical Expenditures Panel Survey that asthma has one of the most, common chronic condition among children’s

Have you ever wondered why the South of the Bronx have the highest rate of children with asthma? Well, the place matters, our social and physical environment determinates what kind of disease people are exposed to. Unnatural Causes presents on its episode Place Matters how the environment which people are in contact constantly affects people’s health. When it comes to health there is a lot of conditions that are related to our health status. Poverty, and the neighborhood are some of the factors make our environment healthy or unhealthy. According to the film there is a social pattern in the environment where we live that keep us unhealthy. It is hard for low income people change their way their live, to transform the economics of their community and to make their neighborhood safer. In fact, it becomes almost impossible to change the environment where less fortunate people live because nobody wants to invent into the community, and they have to carry with disparity. Violence, chronic stress and “poverty taxes” are some factors that influence our environment.

Avoidance of allergens is crucial for prevention of asthmatic attacks. Such allergens include irritants and exposures in the environment. Allergen identification via skin testing is essential, and once identified, the patient should be advised to avoid the offending allergens. Triggers of asthma may include cold, mites, pollen, mold, animal fur, small animals or dust (Anderson and Watson). Asthma education is very crucial in informing people about triggers of asthma, weight reduction, early diagnosis, control, and management (Elbanna, Sileem and

There has been a decline in the quality of air we breathe in over time, and this can be blamed on the rapid industrialization and urbanization of cities. Rapid urbanization and industrialization has lead to the use of more sophisticated machines such as vehicles, which produce gases, which are majorly responsible for the gradual change in climate. Asthmatic flare ups can be as a result of ‘the exposure to tobacco smoke, vehicular emissions, ozone, plant pollens, mold spores, skin cells and hair from common mammalian pets, waste of dust mites and cockroaches, and cold air’ (Adkinson et al., 2007). Although asthma is said to be more common in urban areas, cases of asthma in rural areas are becoming more common as a result of rapid industrialization. The article states that in coming years, respiratory health is expected to grow even worse “because of interaction between heavier pollen loads and increased air pollution” (Shea, Truckner, Weber, & Peden, 2008, p.

Recent studies have established that genetic and environmental factors are associated with the development of asthma (Maddox L, Schwartz DA, 2002). Numerous environmental factors such as allergens, air pollution and other environmental chemicals have been associated with the development and increased asthma severity (F. J. Kelly, 2011). Other factors can include low air quality from high ozone levels, traffic pollution as well as smoking during pregnancy and after delivery (Gold, Diane R., 2005). Asthma runs strongly in families; it is believed that three-fifths of all asthma cases are hereditary (WebMD, 2014). According to a CDC report, if an individual has a parent with asthma, that person is three to six times more likely to develop asthma than someone who does not have a parent with asthma (WebMD, 2014).

Asthma is a lung disease that affects approximately ten million people in the United States. (Cramer 2) In people with asthma, the airways of the lungs are hypersensitive to irritants such as cigarette smoke or allergens. When these irritants are inhaled, the airways react by constricting, or narrowing. Some people with asthma have only mild, intermittent symptoms that can be controlled without drugs. In others, the symptoms are chronic, severe, and sometime life threatening. Although researchers have learned more about the underlying causes of asthma in recent years, a definitive treatment is still unavailable. In the last decade, asthma deaths worldwide have rose 42%. (Cramer 2) The reasons for this increase are not clear; however,

Children with asthma around secondhand smoke have more severe and frequent asthma attacks, which can put a child’s life in danger.