Summary: Observational Cross-Sectional Study

Childhood asthma is a growing healthcare issue in the United States. It is a common childhood medical disorder that affects approximately 7.1 million children under the age of 18. It is estimated that 4.1 million of this population suffered from an asthma episode in 2011 (American Lung Association, [ALA], 2014). Interestingly, children make up less than 20% of the United States population; however, it estimated that 29 % of hospitalization discharges were contributed to children with asthma who are under the age of 15.

To better understand the impact of asthma, a brief overview of the causes (aetiology) and disease progression (pathophysiology) must be shown. As common as asthma is, not much is known about its aetiology, according to findings presented by Subbaroa, Mandhane and Sears (2009, pg. 181-187) in a review from the Canadian

According to Barnett and Nurmagambetov, from the time period of 2002-2007, 886 children under the age of 15 died due to asthma. Using the 2009 figure for value of an average life of any of those children, the grand total for loss of life in the world for just those 5 years is almost 1.2 billion dollars. (145-152) Child-onset asthma may not be the greatest killer of children to plaque this planet but it is a real and terrifying experience for both children and their parents. Mothers and fathers can fight against this illness but they need to know how to deal with asthma and what to do when an attack happens can help prevent these deaths from happening.

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

In young children it can be difficult to diagnose asthma because the symptoms can also happen with other conditions. For example, young children can experience wheezing with colds or other respiratory infections but can outgrow it as the airways grow. The best way to diagnose asthma is with a lung function test, complete medical history and physical exam. For adults and children, annual medical visits are the best primary preventative intervention against asthma. This allows the asthma sufferer to learn the triggers of asthma so exposure can be minimized, particularly, if asthma is familial. However, that too can be a guessing game because a trigger becomes known when there is a response to it. For example, wheezing or coughing are good

Epidemiology is the foundation of evidence-based medicine. It involves study of distribution and causes of health events in a given community and application of the study to address the health issues (Szklo & Nieto, 2014). Clinical epidemiology is a term used to define a methodology for clinical research. As a tool for research, clinical epidemiology guides the clinicians to seek answers through evidence based research (Woodward, 2013). Clinical epidemiology acts as the basis for clinicians as they take care of patients. Before making decisions on treatment for the patients, clinicians should use facts gained from population-based studies. Clinical epidemiology makes it possible to use past experiences as a guide to care decisions for the patients (Fletcher, Fletcher & Fletcher, 2012).

Assessment of a child with severe or difficult asthma may include physiological measurements such as pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry and body plethysmography. It can include assessment of airway inflammation such as FENO,, sputum eosinophils , bronchoscopy with bronchoalevolar lavage and bronchial biopsy, and tests for allergic sensitization such as specific allergen IgE or aeroallergen skin prick tests or more evaluation for comorbidities or diseases that mimic asthma(Table 2).

Despite the availability of many effective treatments and evidence-based interventions, asthma still a significant problem in public health between children. Asthma is one of the top causes of hospital admission and emergency visits in the United States children (Mansfield, et al, 2015). Asthma causes significant restrictions on child’s activities, many work absences for parents, quality of life, and many absences from school days due to the increasing symptoms exacerbation. The severity of asthma may vary over the period of time, regularly, it is hard to categorize, and may not always be checked by objective procedures for instance lung function tests (Mansfield, et al, 2015). Theoretically, care of asthma stressed that the various set of

Studies for this review were collected using databases such as Google Scholar, Science Direct, and BioMEd Central. Peer Reviewed literature was examined from 2005 to 2015. A total of forty-five studies were examined with ten being used for this review. Cross-Sectional studies and reviews of longitudinal studies were used. Data was collected using primary sources that are first hand observational. Data was collected from questionnaires, interviews, assessment waves, surveys, and focus groups. Most studies were cross-sectional studies (Garcia (2014), Morleo (2013), Lui (2014), Nash (2005), Barnow (2002). Reviews of longitudinal studies were also examined (Jester (2014), Visser (2012), Humskey (2010). A longitudinal study was examined (Degenhardt

Asthma comes from the Greek meaning of short of breath which the world has come to known as asthma which is shortness of breath. Henry Hyde Salter was the first person to describe asthma in which he stated: “airways narrow due to contraction of their smooth muscle.” William Osler known as the father of medicine described asthma as a “spasm of the bronchial muscles, swelling of the bronchial mucous membrane, the special form of inflammation of the smaller bronchioles, similar to hay fever, runs in families, begins in childhood and sometimes lasts into old age, can induce a paroxysm.” Asthma was understood about around 1980s when they figured out how the specific allergen exposure causes a cascade of triggered chemical mediated

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

Host et al. (1994) conducted an analogous experiment to measure peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) of healthy children at the age of 6-17. A questionnaire is also asked to be completed by the parents to provide data on asthma and health status of their children. Other factors related to smoking were also considered. Finally, 861 healthy children recorded their PEFR values as well as their ages and their heights. The correlation between children’s heights and their values is indicated by the following graph and table.

The powerful of development made in medicine in the 20th and 21st century even though there are still many terrifying

Asthma is marked by recurrent episodes of airway obstruction, which reverses either spontaneously or once the individual receives medication and the condition is usually associated with bronchial hyper responsiveness together with chronic airway inflammation. Most asthma cases are mild and are easily diagnosed and treated by family general practitioners (GPs). However, severe asthma cases are more difficult to treat. The disease can start at any age but in most cases first symptoms occur during childhood. The disease is more prevalent in children (10-15%) than adult 5-10%): in children it is more common in males and in adults it is more common in females (Martinez and Vercelli 2013). Asthma is strongly associated with

132 bronchial asthma suspects were referred to our Allery clinic. On the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria and the consent to participate in the study a total of 70 patients were included in to the study as initial diagnosis of bronchial asthma diagnosed as per GINA