Childhood Asthma
Asthma is a chronic disorder that can affect children. Asthma obstructs the airways and the lungs. Many children have been affected by this, and suffer constantly from it. Asthma is caused by many different things. There are many safe and effective treatment methods for it in children. Asthma has been on the rise in the more recent years and there are many theories as to why. Current statistics prove that there are more and more people contracting asthma every day in the US.
Asthma is a chronic disorder where the airway is obstructed and the patient has trouble breathing. It can cause shortness of breath, wheezing or coughing in many patients. These symptoms are experienced because of an inflammation in the airway, causing a tightening of the muscles. This causes excess production of mucous. When an asthmatic child is exposed to a trigger the airways will become inflamed and make it so the child has a difficult time breathing (Healthcare South, 2001). There are different categories for types of asthma. Allergic asthma is caused by allergic reactions. Seasonal asthma is caused by different allergens depending on the season. Non Allergic asthma is when people have asthma caused from man made things, such as tobacco and room fresheners. Exercise induced asthma is another type, that is triggered when taking part in fitness. And the last type is nocturnal asthma, which occurs as the name states at night.
Each category of asthma is caused from different things. Children who encounter allergic asthma normally have a history of allergies or have people in their families that have allergies (Healthcare South, 2001). The allergens that are more likely to cause an asthma attack are pollens and pet dander. Seasonal asthma is another thing that affects many children. Tree pollen, grass pollen and mold spores all can be triggers of asthma (Health South, 2001). Many children have seasonal issues in the spring when the plants are flowering, or in the summer when the ragweed is at its most potent state. Non allergic asthma is one of the most severe forms of asthma. It has nothing to do with allergies and is caused mainly by man made products. The number one cause of this is smoking. Many children are around adults that smoke, or wood burning stoves (Health South, 2001). Other things that can cause issues with this are pine odors, room fresheners, cleaning products and outdoor air pollution (Health South, 2001). Flu’s and colds can also trigger these symptoms. Other things that can cause this are changes in temperature and gastro esophageal reflux. Exercise induced asthma is asthma caused by any kind of physical fitness. Symptoms of this can be found during, or after exercise. It is recommended that patients with exercise induced asthma should not exercise excessively during winter months or in cold environments. Nocturnal asthma occurs in the middle of the night. It typically happens between 02:00 and 04:00 (Health Source, 2001). This can happen with all types of asthma, but is normally worse if the child has a sinus infection or post nasal drip and can be made worse by dust mites and pet dander.
There are many different ways to treat childhood asthma symptoms. These ways depend on the age of the child and severity and frequency of the asthma. The ways of treating asthma are based on three main things, control, monitoring and understanding. The first step is to control and avoid asthma triggers that may be affecting the child (Sawicki, 2010). The next step is to regularly monitor the asthma symptoms and lung function of the child (Sawicki, 2010). Last is understanding the treatment and medications needed to battle this issue (Sawicki, 2010). The most important thing to do is control the asthma triggers. Different medications can be used in treatment. Bronchodilators can relieve asthma symptoms, as well as metered-dose inhalers and nebulizers (Sawicki, 2010). Inhaled glucocorticoids, leukotriene modifiers, long acting bronchodilators, and cromolyn are other treatments for childhood asthma (Sawicki, 2010). If allergens such as dust, pollen or animal dander are found to be at cause, there are ways to eliminate them or make them less of a problem. The best thing to do for this is to clean often and remove all carpets and drapes from the home. Installing wooden blinds and wood or tile floors is the best recommendation. Installation of heap filters and special air conditioning units with specialized filters is also a good idea. It is also important not to allow children to sleep around pets. Keeping children away from cigarette smoke and people who smoke is also another great idea. Monitoring of asthma comes after controlling it. Keeping an asthma journal or diary, and letting a health care professional know when attacks happen is necessary. Having testing such as peak expiratory flow rates, where the amount a child can exhale is measured, is recommended (Sawicki, 2010). Reviewing asthma treatment with a physician every one to six months is also needed so that if any issues arise the medications may be changed. Understanding asthma is the last thing to do. It is necessary to understand asthma as a parent and a child so that any time symptoms occur they are likely to be noticed and treated within a timely manner. Another good idea is when a child is school age is to let teachers and other students know what is going on and what to do in an emergency. Most importantly every child with asthma should have an action plan. Often times color cards can be used with this method. Green cards can mean that the child feels ok. Yellow can mean that the child is having exerted breathing, and red can mean that they feel they are in complete attack mode and need assistance immediately. Children can be given an emergency medical bracelet to point this out to adults and others around them in an emergency where they are unable to speak.
There are many theories as to why asthma is on the rise. This is a health disparity and it affects everyone even if they don’t have it. Everyone knows someone with asthma. There are more and more people becoming diagnosed with this every day. The first cases were put into medical literature in the early 1800’s when 5 patients total had asthma symptoms (AAFA, 2011). It was considered very rare at that time. In 1901 the use of bronchodilators began (AAFA, 2011). Early research stated that it was caused because of psychiatric issues. In the 1960’s the inflammatory component of asthma was discovered and anti-inflammatory medications began to be used. This was not a condition that many people had two or three hundred years ago. Some of the theories as to why asthma is on the rise include lifestyle and behavioral impacts, such as being overweight or having a low amount of physical activity (Redd, 2002). Other reasons can be due to the environment and pollution (Redd, 2002). As we have been polluting more and more we are able to find more and more cases of asthma. Some studies have shown that children who attend daycares have higher amounts of asthma (Redd, 2002).
Currently more than five million children have asthma. African Americans are 2-3 times higher to need hospitalization, or emergency room visits than white Americans (Redd, 2002). The cost of asthma to Americans has increased from 12.7 billion for the total population in 1998 (Redd, 2002). This is because there are so many more people with asthma coming into this world every day. The population of persons who have asthma has doubled from 1980 to 1996, and is still on the rise (Redd, 2002). It has the greatest rate in children that are among preschool ages, but has prevalence in groups of all ages and races (Redd, 2002). This could be because they are exposed to so much more than they were before they began going to preschool. Few deaths occur in children and most are in adults over the age of 35 (Redd, 2002). Costs have increased more than 50 percent since 1980 for persons suffering from asthma (Redd, 2002). This is partly because hospital rates and medication prices have increased. In 2007 more than 5.6 million children ages 5-17 reported having asthma (CDC, 2009). 2.9 children have reported having an asthma attack within the last year, and three out of 30 children are likely to have asthma (CDC, 2009). Asthma is one of the leading causes of children not being in school. This is because there are often things at the schools that trigger symptoms, such as old carpeting or harsh cleansers. In 2003 12.8 million school days were reported to be missed because of asthma (CDC, 2009). White children have the least amount of asthma; whereas other races were reported to have a higher prevalence. Non-Hispanic black people have an incidence rate of 9.4, whereas non-Hispanic white only have an incidence rate of 7.7. The cost to treat those under 18 is over 3.2 billion each year (CDC, 2009). Asthma is the third highest reason of hospitalization in children under 15 (CDC, 2009).
Asthma affects many people. It is particularly concerning when it is a child because they cannot take proper care of their self’s, and don’t understand what is going on. It is a chronic disorder affecting the breathing ways and the lungs. There are different causes and treatments that can be used to conquer this. There are many theories on why asthma is on the rise, the most predominate being the environment and all of the pollution humans have caused to it. The numbers of children that have asthma is alarming. We can at least see that there are ways to make sure that we are treating and battling this disorder. Children just need to be taught what is going on in their bodies so they are able to help with their treatment and management of their condition.
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