Early Childhood Asthma

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One of the most common diseases in children is asthma. “Asthma symptoms affect an estimated 26 million Americans and are one of the leading causes of work and school absences” (ACAAI, 2014). Asthma is a disease that affects your lungs that causes it to be difficult to breath. This common disease cannot be cured, but can be managed.
“Asthma is caused by a chronic inflammation and obstruction of the bronchial tubes, the airways that allow air to enter and leave the lungs” (ACAAI, 2014). “Mom and Dad may be partially to blame for asthma, since three-fifths of all asthma cases are hereditary” (MNT 2007). So most of the time someone will be born with asthma, but that is not the only way you can have it. “Tobacco smoke has been linked to a higher
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In addition, children of mothers who smoke - and other people exposed to second-hand smoke - have a higher risk of asthma prevalence. Adolescent smoking has also been associated with increases in asthma risk” (MNT 2007). It has been proven that tobacco smoke severely affects the lungs. Secondhand smoke can cause asthma. “Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome” (CDC 2014). Asthma can cause episodes that cause it to be impossible to breath and can be life threating; these episodes are called asthma attacks. An asthma attack may include coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, and trouble breathing. The attack happens in your body’s airways, which are the paths that carry air to your lungs. “As the air moves through your lungs, the airways become smaller, like the branches of a tree are smaller than the tree trunk. During an asthma attack, the sides of the airways in your lungs swell and the airways shrink. Less air gets in and out of your lungs, and mucous that your body makes clogs up the airways even more” (CDC 2014). Asthma attacks are usually triggered by something. “Some of the …show more content…
Doctors will condone lung function testes to determine if someone has asthma. There are a few different lung function test. There is the spirometry test, the peak airflow test, and the triggers test. The spirometry test is the most common test to confirm if someone has asthma. During the spirometry test, “you breathe into a mouthpiece that’s connected to a device. It is called a spirometer. The spirometer measures the amount of air you’re able to breathe in and out and its rate of flow. You will take a deep breath and then exhale forcefully” (AAFA 2015). The peak airflow test is pretty much the opposite of the spirometry test. During the peak airflow test, you breathe into to measure the rate at which you can force air out of your lungs. “During the test you breathe in as deeply as you can and then blow into the device as hard and fast as possible” (AAFA 2015). If those tests do not work, the doctor can use the triggers test. If your other results are normal, but you’ve been experiencing signs and symptoms of asthma, your doctor may use known asthma triggers to try and provoke a mild reaction. “If you don’t have asthma, you won’t react. But if you do have asthma, you likely will develop asthma symptoms” (AAFA