1. Medically speaking, what is asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease caused by inflammation (swelling) of the airways (breathing tubes). This inflammation is caused by inheriting genes as well as everyday exposures in our environment like pollen, animal dander, and even viral respiratory infections such as the common cold.
Typically, people who have asthma have three things going in in their body that cause symptoms. These are:
- Chronic inflammation of the airways (swelling of the breathing tubes)
- Obstruction of the breathing tubes (from the swelling OR mucus blocking the breathing tubes) which can typically reverse in most children with medication
- Hyper-responsiveness of the airways (overreacting breathing tubes) to different exposures like allergies, smoke, pollution and respiratory viruses
In people with asthma, breathing can become difficult because of the swelling of the airways (breathing tubes) which narrow the path air takes getting in and out of the lungs. Children with asthma can have symptoms like chest tightness or pain, wheezing, cough or feeling out of breath.
Asthma can cause such a wide variety of symptoms because each person’s disease is unique and not all children with asthma necessarily have all the symptoms. Some children may only cough and other kids may only wheeze. It is how often your symptoms are occurring that determine how severe your asthma is, not what kind of symptoms you have.
>Related: Learn More about Connecticut Children’s Asthma Center
2. Who does asthma affect the most?
Asthma can affect anyone. But in childhood, asthma affects significantly more boys than girls, as well as underrepresented populations. Black people and some Hispanic people have higher asthma rates than other groups. For example, Puerto Rican children have the highest asthma rates of all ethnic and racial groups, but Mexican children have one of the lowest reported rates.
3. Are there certain things that can trigger asthma?
Yes—many factors can trigger asthma and cause symptoms or an “asthma attack.” When a child has symptoms of cough, wheezing and/or shortness breath this is called a loss of asthma control. This loss of control can be caused by a variety of exposures. For some people irritants like pollution, strong smells, cigarette smoke, vape, and essential oils being diffused can cause a loss of control. Others may have increased symptoms only with exercise or exposure to very hot or cold temperatures OR big temperature changes. Loss of asthma control that lasts longer are referred to as moderate or severe exacerbations. These exacerbations are usually from exposure to allergens or respiratory viruses like the flu or human rhinovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
>Related: RSV and Flu: What’s the Difference and When Should I Seek Care?
4. What’s the best treatment for asthma in kids?
Every kid is different, so that depends. The key to treating asthma is treating the inflammation of the airways (swelling of the breathing tubes) as well as the hyper-responsiveness (overacting breathing tubes).
Inflammation is treated by inhaling low doses of steroid medication, the amount and how often medication is taken depends on how often the symptoms are occurring. Some kids might only take medication during illnesses where others need medication every day to help their symptoms stay under control. To treat the hyper-responsiveness, medications called bronchodilators are used to help open the airways and improve symptoms.
Depending on the medication and the child, it may be given with an inhaler and spacer (aka pump) or a nebulizer (machine) with a liquid medication(s) inside. There is even newer medications that combine both steroids and bronchodilators into one inhaler so that patients can use a single inhaler for controlling their asthma as well as treating increased symptoms!
Other medications like antihistamines, which help minimize asthma triggers like seasonal allergies, can also help to improve asthma control.
