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Asthma: Children
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Asthma is a chronic condition involving the respiratory system in which the airway occasionally constricts, becomes inflamed, and is lined with excessive amounts of mucus, often in response to one or more triggers. These episodes may be triggered by such things as exposure to an environmental stimulant (or allergen) such as cold air, warm air, moist air, exercise or exertion, or emotional stress. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold.[1] This airway narrowing causes symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. The airway constriction responds to bronchodilators. Between episodes, most patients feel well but can have mild symptoms and they may remain short of breath after exercise for longer periods of time than the unaffected individual. The symptoms of asthma, which can range from mild to life threatening, can usually be controlled with a combination of drugs and environmental changes.
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Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the lung. This inflammatory process can occur along the entire airway from the nose to the lung. Once the airway becomes swollen and inflamed it becomes narrower, allowing less air through to the lung tissue and causing symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing. Once considered a minor ailment affecting only a small portion of the population, asthma is now the most common chronic disorder of childhood, and affects an estimated 6.2 million children under the age of 18. The fact that asthma runs in families suggests that genetic factors play an important role in the development of the disease... environmental factors also contribute to the disease process. Asthma can be triggered by a wide range of substances called allergens.
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Asthma usually begins in childhood or adolescence, but it ... may first appear in adult life. While the symptoms may be similar, certain important aspects of asthma are different in children and adults. When asthma begins in childhood, it often does so in a child who is likely, for genetic reasons, to become sensitized to common allergens in the environment. Such a child is known as an atopic person. In 2004, scientists in Helsinki, Finland, identified two new genes that cause atopic asthma. The discovery might lead to earlier prediction of asthma in children and adults.
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Asthma, a condition whose incidence, prevalence and mortality rate has been increasing during the past several years, is a very serious health problem for both children and adults. Approximately 12 million adults and children now have asthma in the United States. Nearly 5,000 of them die of it every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the death rate from asthma increased by 46% from 1970 to 1987 and it is still growing. Asthma-related health costs were estimated to be $6.2 billion dollars annually as of 1990.
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Asthma is not contagious, but it does run in families, so if parents have asthma, their children are more likely to have it, too. Children, particularly those living in urban areas and crowded or unclean conditions, are especially at risk for developing asthma. African-American children living in low-income families tend to have more severe asthma and are at greater risk of death.
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Asthma is a disease of the lungs that often leads to repeated episodes of wheezing, chest tightness, breathlessness, and early morning or nighttime coughing. Asthma affects more than 7 percent of adults and more than 18 percent of children in North Carolina. In 2006, 123 North Carolinians died due to asthma. While asthma impacts all North Carolinians, African Americans, Native Americans, women, the elderly, and children are among the groups most affected by asthma.
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