What Parents Need to Know About Asthma

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

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.

Asthma affects 1 in every 12 Americans. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, Asthma is affects “About 1 in 9 (11%) non-Hispanic blacks of all ages and about 1 in 6 (17%) of non-Hispanic black children had asthma in 2009, the highest rate among racial/ethnic groups.” As a mother of child with asthma, I know how scary it can be to deal with asthma attacks and learning how to treat the symptoms and minimize risk factors.

Avoiding and controlling asthma triggers is important in every phase of the intervention process in order to manage the disease. However, many times because of lack of awareness and education, asthma

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

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects approximately 22 million people in the United States. Six million of those people are children, making it the most common chronic disease of children (“What is Asthma” and National 1). Asthma may be associated with morbidity, mortality, and diminished quality of life. Asthma is considered a long-term disease because there is currently no cure (Young). Further defining this disorder will be achieved by explaining the disease and symptoms, addressing how it is acquired, ways physicians diagnose it, and elaborating on treatments.

Asthma, as defined by the NIH, “is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing.” (National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute [NHLBI], 2015). There are risk factors that may predispose a child to developing asthma, which include having allergies, eczema, and/or having parents who have asthma. Asthma is not a disease that is preventable. (NHLBI, 2015). The risk or likelihood that someone would have asthma is based on the biological makeup of the individual that would predispose them to the disease, rather than behavioral, environmental, or even social factors.

Asthma is a respiratory disease characterized by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, resulting in difficulty breathing as well as coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. This condition affects nearly 26 million Americans, and causes over 5,000 deaths and 2 million emergency department visits in the US each year. While asthma affects people of every race, sex, and age, it is more prevalent in specific populations of people, such as low-income housing communities in San Diego. Various risk factors contribute to the development of asthma, such as (1) having a parent that lives with (or has a history with) asthma, (2) being classified as an overweight individual, (3) having sensitization to different irritants and allergens, and (4) struggling

“The population is the hallmark of public health” (Davis & Herman, 2011). It is estimated that 7.1 million children in the United States have asthma. Asthma is responsible for 14 .4 million days lost per school year. It is the most frequent

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,

With an increasing prevalence that is estimated at 10% of children in the USA. It occasionally provides physicians with a challenge as moderate to severe persistent asthma represents 5-10% of all Asthma patients. Asthma is defined as airway hyperreactivity leading to edema, spasms and eventually narrowing of the airways. This presents in patients as cough, difficulty breathing and chest tightness that occasionally could be severe enough to bring the asthmatic to the emergency department or even require admission. Inflammation and mechanical narrowing are both contributory factors to the development of symptoms. Therapy approach generally focuses on controlling these two factors in an acute or chronic setting. Despite maximum standard therapy some patients will still not be able to maintain a controlled state of their disease where they are able to function

Although many Organization such as national and international guidelines from the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) highlighted the importance of evaluating asthma severity in children before the beginning of therapy. Severe asthma is known when lungs are not function normally and develop tenacious symptoms despite appropriate therapy. Asthma in children is a chronic, continuous disorder and categorized by airway inflammation. It also has different phases. While some children with asthma have symptoms that are improved with short-acting bronchodilators, many other children have continuous symptoms requiring daily treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Children with

Jillian, great presentation! Asthma is a diagnosis that I see often. One thing that I think you have covered well is the nursing implications. This is an important area because if parents are taught properly on the right way to treat asthma, it can be controlled well depending on the severity (Epocrates, 2017). When patients are experiencing severe uncontrolled asthma one medication that we gave in the infusion center is Xolair.

Asthma is a chronic airway disease that can be difficult to manage, resulting in poor outcomes and high costs (Kuhn et al., 2015). It is characterized by episodes of expiratory airflow obstruction, which occurs in response to multiple stimuli or triggers. Asthma is a lifelong disease, and symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing. Attacks can be mild, moderate, severe, or even life threatening and limit a person’s way of life (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2011). There is no known cure for asthma, but symptoms can be controlled by avoiding the triggers and taking prescribed medicines that prevent or minimize symptoms.