CONCLUSION
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease in which patients experience repeated episodes of coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing. In a patient with asthma, the airways of the lungs are excessively reactive to irritants (called triggers) and respond by narrowing, swelling, and filling with mucus. This disabling response can usually be reversed by inhaling a short-acting bronchodilator medication.
Asthma is a common problem that often first shows up in childhood, although it can appear at any age. Currently, there is no cure, but the symptoms disappear on their own in a significant number of patients, especially during their teenage years.
Asthma varies in its severity, but a common feature of the disease is the lungs’ sensitivity to stimuli that do not produce similar symptoms in people with normal lungs. The irritants that trigger asthma can include dust, chemical vapors, exercise, sudden changes in air temperature or humidity, allergens, psychological stress, or certain medicines such as aspirin.
Between exacerbations, a person with asthma may have no noticeable breathing difficulties, although measurements of lung function will show an increase in the time that it takes the patient to forcefully empty his or her lungs. However, during an exacerbation (or “attack”), the patient develops a marked airflow obstruction that makes breathing difficult or, in extremely severe cases, leads to death.
Mild and intermittent asthma attacks can usually be treated with a pocket inhaler of a beta-2 agonist bronchodilator. Severe attacks need medical attention, and they are treated with bronchodilators, oxygen, and oral corticosteroids.
The best prevention of asthma attacks is a long-term management plan that includes inhaled corticosteroids plus careful avoidance of contact with the patient’s triggers. The specific regimen of controller medications (such as inhaled corticosteroids) must be tailored to the severity of the patient’s underlying disease.
At one time, the focus of asthma treatment was on avoiding or quickly treating attacks. Recently, with the realization that asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition, the goal has also been to manage and lessen the inflammation so that the daily life of an asthma patient can include as wide a variety of activities as possible.
RESOURCES
Asthma (American Lung Association)
Asthma (CDC)
Asthma action plan (NHLBI)
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire
Children’s asthma education video series (University of North Carolina)
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