The Effects Of Asthma On The Body

Asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in children and is responsible for nearly 10% of the Emergency Room visits for children <15 year of age. It occurs in as many as 10%-12% of children in the United States and is gradually growing. Asthma can begin at any age , but most children have their first symptoms by age five. Because Camp Wapiti is for children ages 8-13 exclusively, this report will focus primarily on childhood asthma.

Asthma is a long-term lung disease. Those with asthma have sensitive airways in their lungs which triggers a flare up. When this flare up happens the muscle around the airways squeeze tight and the airways swell, become narrows and produce more mucus. (Anon., 2016) All these things make it harder for a person to breathe. Asthma effects the human body’s respiratory system. Asthma causes a spasm and constriction of the bronchial passages and the swelling and the inflammation of the mucous lining. The body responds by defence cells from the immune system, which causes the airways to swell and the muscles surrounding the airways to contract. Which is what cuts off the airflow. While a person is in asthma attack, the asthmatic cannot breathe which

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

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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.

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.

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

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), one out of ten children have asthma in the United States (2016). “Asthma is the leading chronic disease in children, it is also the top reason for missed school days.” (AAFA, 2016, para 3). Asthma is described as the inflammation of the bronchi in the lungs. The narrowing of the bronchi makes it difficult to breath, due to the inflammation; a wheezing sound might be heard during an acute asthma attack. Bronchi are small branches in the lungs that helps deliver air or oxygen into the lungs when inhaled, and helps remove carbon dioxide out of the body during expiration. Learning the anatomy of the lungs will be beneficial in learning how asthma affects the body. When a person breaths, the air goes through the nasal cavity, to the pharynx and larynx, then to the trachea and into the lungs, where the bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli are located.

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

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, which are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs allowing one to take in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower and the ability to breathe more difficult. Sometimes asthma symptoms are mild and go away on their own or after minimal treatment with asthma medicine, but other times symptoms continue to get worse. When symptoms get more intense and more symptoms occur, you 're having what is commonly known as an asthma attack. During an asthma attack you are in complete panic and the swelling in your airways reaches a point where it is no possible to take air into the lungs. If action is not taken to reduce the swelling of the airways in order to restore breathing, someone could die of asphyxiation, or the lack of oxygen. The number of people being diagnosed with asthma is on the rise, especially in the rates of children developing symptoms of asthma at a young age.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by episodes in which the bronchioles constrict due to oversensitivity. In asthma, the airways (bronchioles) constrict making it difficult to get air in or out of the lungs. Breathlessness is the main symptom. The bronchi and bronchioles become inflamed and constricted. Asthmatics usually react to triggers. Triggers are substances and situations that would not normally trouble an asthma free person. Asthma is either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic is when the inflammation in the airway is a result of hypersensitivity reactions associated with allergy (food or pollen). Intrinsic asthma is linked to hyper responsive reactions to other forms of

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.

How is life like diagnosed asthma? How can someone as special as a mother has this disease, and, be able to relentlessly work every day, just to feed her family? My mother is someone who’s impacted by this disease, ever since she was small. But she’s someone who has been through many of the side effects of asthma since she stated in an interview saying, “When I was younger, I lived in the rural areas of Vietnam, specially Danang. At the time medication was very expensive, so I couldn’t afford to buy an inhaler. Which meant I’ve experienced numerous side effects of Asthma. For me, I’ve been through two asthma attacks, both were very serious and did impact largely on my health. It was challenging to live without the medications I needed, but, I fought through it all.” Consequently, there's not really a cure for Asthma now, but there are ways to relieve Asthma.