Asthma
Joshua Hernandez
HCS/245
Oct 7, 2014
Margaret Latham

Asthma
Asthma is a serious respiratory diseases that is widespread that affects millions and millions of people through out the world. This disease affects newborns, young children, adults, baby boomers and seniors and it is rapidly affecting small children in a rapid rate. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways with recurring symptoms, with reversible airflow obstruction with common symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Asthma is thought to be caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors that affect people throughout the world and in the United States. Diagnoses for the individual having asthma doesn’t know they have asthma till the symptoms of wheezing and shortness of breath arises. Newborns that have asthma when they are born are because it’s a genetic cause but young children that develop asthma are usually because of the environmental issues such as pollution. Also, delivery via caesarean section is associated with an increased risk (estimated at 20–80%) of asthma—this increased risk is attributed to the lack of healthy bacterial colonization that the newborn would have acquired from passage through the birth canal. Many environmental factors have been associated with asthma’s development including allergens, air pollution, and other environmental chemicals. Low air quality from factors such as traffic pollution or high ozone levels have been associated with the development of asthma. Women that smoke while they are pregnant or after the delivery of their child have an associated risk of asthma like symptoms for their child. Asthma is the single most prevalent cause of child disability in the United States. Childhood asthma has skyrocketed in the inner cities disproportionately striking the poor who are at least 50 percent more likely to have a disease than those not living in poverty. While the reasons are not clear The Center for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrates that a combination of poverty related issues trigger attacks. Because of asthma children in the United States miss about 13 million school days per year. Poor children already at risk in failing in school are therefore more likely to fall even farther behind because of this acute disease. For adults they miss about 10 million missed workdays a year due to asthma. About 11 percent of all asthma sufferers are over the age of 65. Respiratory tract infections especially common among the elderly often trigger attacks. Believe it or not but asthma can contribute to physical deterioration and death among elderly people. There is a connection between obesity and the risk of asthma with both having increased in recent years. Several factors may be at play including decreased respiratory function due to a buildup of fat and the fact that adipose tissue leads to a pro-inflammatory state.
While asthma is a well-recognized respiratory condition there is not a universal agreement in the health care industry. The Global Initiative for Asthma defined it as a “Chronic Inflammatory disorder of the airways in which many cells and cellular elements play a role. There is currently no precise test with the diagnosis typically based on the pattern of systems and response to therapy over time. Asthma would be considered a primary disease that arises spontaneously and is not associated with or caused by a previous disease, injury, or event, but that may lead to a secondary disease. Cause asthma can come about without you knowing till you finally feel the symptoms but it can also be genetic. As of 2011, 235–330 million people worldwide are affected by asthma and approximately 250,000-345,000 people die per year from the disease. Asthma affects approximately 7% of the population of the United States and 5% of people in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have rates of about 14–15%. From 2000-2010, the average cost per asthma-related hospital stay in the United States for children remained relatively stable at about $3,600, whereas the average cost per asthma-related hospital stay for adults increased from $5,200 to $6,600. Avoidance of triggers is a key component of improving control and preventing attacks. The most common triggers include allergens, smoke (tobacco and other), air pollution, and sulfite-containing foods. While there is no cure for asthma, symptoms can typically be improved. A specific, customized plan for proactively monitoring and managing symptoms should be created. This plan should include the reduction of exposure to allergens, testing to assess the severity of symptoms, and the usage of medications. The treatment plan should be written down and advise adjustments to treatment according to changes in symptoms.
Asthma is something I had to deal with when I was a young boy. It was because I lived in the inner city of all the toxins and pollution. Didn’t know I had it till one day I was playing outside and the symptoms of shortness of breath literally put a halt to certain activities I was doing as a youngster. So asthma is something I had to deal with and continue to deal with.

References
American Diabetes Association. (2014, Oct). Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org
Center for Disease and Control and Prevention. (2014, Oct). Center for Disease and Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cd.govc