Asthma
What is asthma?
If we have a child or other loved one who is prone to asthma attacks, we have a pretty good idea what asthma looks like or what it does to someone. We would probably talk of breathlessness, the inability to breathe, wheezing or tight-chestedness. But could we offer a definition of asthma?
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offers a comprehensive working definition of asthma available online. Its Summary Report 2007, National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma, says,
“Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in which many cells and cellular elements play a role: in particular, mast cells, eosinophils, neutrophils (especially in sudden onset, fatal exacerbations, occupational asthma, and patients who smoke), T lymphocytes, macrophages, and epithelial cells. In susceptible individuals, this inflammation causes recurrent episodes of coughing (particularly at night or early in the morning), wheezing, breathlessness, and chest tightness. These episodes are usually associated with widespread but variable airflow obstruction that is often reversible either spontaneously or with treatment.”
The same report offers the following short-form version, which most lay-people could cope with,
“Asthma is a complex disorder characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, bronchial hyper-responsiveness, and an underlying inflammation.”
Numbers
Perhaps seven in a hundred US residents are affected and a few less in Britain. Some 300 million people are estimated to affected throughout the world. Some countries are more affected than others. For instance an Australian government website says, “The prevalence of asthma in Australia is among the highest in the world: between 10% and 15% of children and between 10% and 12% of adults have asthma. Although it is not a major cause of death, asthma is one of the most common problems managed by doctors and is a frequent reason for the hospitalisation of children, especially boys.”
Increasing Numbers
It seems to we casual and older observers that there is a lot more asthma about since the 1970s. That seems to be so, but why? Perhaps Australia again could give us a clue. The National Asthma Council Australia’s website notes that, “While ‘city kids’ wheeze in ever-increasing numbers, the incidence of asthma in many remote Aboriginal communities is almost non-existent. In contrast, the incidence of respiratory infections in children in remote communities is generally very high, prompting some researchers to believe that early childhood infections play a protective role by stimulating the immune system. More research is needed in this area.”
Wouldn’t it be interesting if we baby-boomers have been wrapping our children in cotton wool, “molly-coddling’ them, immunising them, sheltering them from infection, stopped them from playing in, and eating, the dirt, etc., and in the process left them vulnerable to something to which they might previously have been invulnerable?
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