Related topics: children , pregnant women , american journal of respiratory and critical care medicine , asthma attack
Asthma
hideAsthma is a chronic inflammation of the lungs in which the airways (bronchi) are reversibly narrowed. Asthma affects 7% of the population, and 300 million worldwide. During attacks (exacerbations), the smooth muscle cells in the bronchi constrict, and the airways become inflamed and swollen. Breathing becomes difficult, and asthma causes 4,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Attacks can be prevented by avoiding triggering factors and by drug treatment. Drugs are used for acute attacks, commonly inhaled β2-agonists. In more serious cases, drugs are used for long-term prevention, starting with inhaled corticosteroids, and then long-acting β2-agonists if necessary. Leukotriene antagonists are less effective than corticosteroids but have no side effects. Monoclonal antibodies such as mepolizumab and omalizumab are sometimes effective. Prognosis is good with treatment.
In contrast to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis, the inflammation of asthma is reversible. In contrast to emphysema, asthma affects the bronchi, not the alveoli.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute defines asthma as a common chronic disorder of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness (bronchospasm), and an underlying inflammation.
Public attention in the developed world has recently focused on asthma because of its rapidly increasing prevalence, affecting up to one in four urban children.
For more information about Asthma, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with asthma
Fibre may keep asthma, diabetes at bay, study finds
Oct 28, 2009 |
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Insoluble dietary fibre, or roughage, not only keeps you regular, say Australian scientists, it also plays a vital role in the immune system, keeping certain diseases at bay.
Dead Ahead: Similar Early Warning Signals of Change in Climate, Ecosystems, Financial Markets, Human Health
Sep 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- What do abrupt changes in ocean circulation and Earth's climate, shifts in wildlife populations and ecosystems, the global finance market and its system-wide crashes, and asthma attacks and ...
Study links folic acid supplements to asthma
Nov 04, 2009 |
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A University of Adelaide study may have shed light on the rise in childhood asthma in developed countries like Australia in recent decades.
Researcher finds there could be up to 200 cold viruses
Oct 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Bad news for the immune system: New research has boosted the number of likely common-cold viruses waiting to make you miserable from the long-accepted 100 to perhaps double that number.
Wave of the future: Portable ultrasound scanners in the ER can save lives by expediting diagnosis
Aug 18, 2009 |
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All too often, a stethoscope and a doctor's touch are still the primary tools for diagnosing emergency-room patients. UC Irvine physician Chris Fox aims to change that.
Discovery may lead to powerful new therapy for asthma
Aug 11, 2009 |
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University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have found that a single enzyme is apparently critical to most allergen-provoked asthma attacks — and that activity of the enzyme, known as aldose reductase, can ...
Study: Infant inhalation of ultrafine air pollution linked to adult lung disease
Jul 22, 2009 |
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Stephania Cormier, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has shown for the first time that early exposure to environmentally persistent free radicals (present in airborne ultrafine ...
Vitamin D may halt lung function decline in asthma and COPD
May 20, 2009 |
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Vitamin D may slow the progressive decline in the ability to breathe that can occur in people with asthma as a result of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) proliferation, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
Key to potential new treatment for allergy-induced asthma identified
May 18, 2009 |
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In research that could lead to new asthma drugs, scientists at Yale School of Medicine, Hydra Biosciences of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that a protein may be ...
Vitamin D levels linked to asthma severity
Apr 23, 2009 |
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New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity.
Anxious pregnant women are more likely to have asthmatic children
Apr 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Pregnant women who are stressed, particularly late in pregnancy, have an increased risk of their child going on to develop asthma, according to the latest research from Children of the 90s.
Enzyme and vitamin define the yin and yang of asthma
Mar 29, 2009 |
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The allergen breathed in by a person with asthma triggers a proteinase or enzyme called MMP7 that activates a cascade of events to prompt an allergic reaction, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine ...
Get smart about science: Sorting through the studies about caffeine and other choices
Feb 20, 2009 |
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Coffee, elixir of the gods. Studies say drinking it can lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and mouth cancer. It can prevent cavities. It can make you happier. It can kill ...
New asthma research opposes current drug treatment
Jan 26, 2009 |
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Just when the Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering the use of stimulants to treat asthma, a new research study offers further evidence to support a University of Houston professor's theory that an opposite approach ...
Fungal pill could provide asthma relief for sufferers
Dec 29, 2008 |
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Up to 150,000 people suffering from severe asthma in the UK could benefit from taking antifungal medication already available from pharmacists, new research has found.
