Asthma

Children under 18 years of age are at special risk of developing asthma; of the over 17 million people in the United States who suffer from asthma, about one-third are children.

Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world. Its name is derived from the Greek word aazein, which means panting or breathless. It has been recognized as a health condition for centuries. Early references to it are found in ancient Greek medical texts like the Corpus Hippocraticum and the extensive medical writings of Galen dating to before 200 C.E. Asthma was first clinically described in modern biomedicine during the period just prior to the turn of the 20th century. Since that time its medical definition has been revised extensively. At first, biomedicine viewed the disease as a neurotic affliction, but today it is broadly understood as a physical disease characterized by episodic inflammation and narrowing of small in breathing. Recognized symptoms of airway passages in the lungs that result in difficulty asthma include the following:

• Coughing, especially at night or early morning, that interferes with sleep
• Wheezing upon exhalation
• Chest tightness and a sense of pressing on the chest
• Shortness of breath

Because of the varied expression of this disease and the range of severity across patients, a person having these symptoms does not necessarily have asthma. Similarly, being free of these symptoms does not mean a person is free of asthma. Diagnosis is usually based on review of a set of clinical factors, including reported symptoms, patient history, physical examination, and the results of a lung function test. This test employs an instrument called a spirometer to measure the volume of air a patient is able to process while breathing in and out. It also measures how rapidly the patient can take in and exhale air. Although asthma is a treatable (i.e., controllable) disease, it is not currently curable. While asthma is mild in some patients, in others it can be fatal. Because asthma is affected by air quality and living conditions, in a world of rapidly changing environmental conditions and social arrangements, there is good reason to believe that asthma rates will grow over the coming decades.