What Do The Two Types Have In Common
Exact causes of asthma can be difficult to pinpoint. Allergies and triggers in the environment can cause asthma symptoms and an asthma flare-up, and genetics can also play a role. But the exact reasons why people develop asthma remain unclear.
Childhood asthma and adult-onset asthma share many of the same triggers. For all people with asthma, exposure to one of the following triggers may cause an asthma attack, though different people have different triggers:
- smoke
Create An Asthma Action Plan
Both adults and children need to create an asthma action plan to outline what type of medicine they should take and when. It will also provide details for what to do when a persons asthma is dangerously out of control. These instructions will help you, your child, friends and relatives know when its time to change treatments or seek emergency care.
To make this plan, discuss your treatment options with your doctor. Plan what you should do in the event of an asthma flare-up. Define at what point you need to increase treatment measures to prevent or reduce an attack.
List what triggers can be avoided and the best ways to avoid them. Share this plan with friends, relatives, and any caregivers your children may have. Together, you will be able to successfully treat your or your childs asthma and avoid future complications.
What Is Childhood Asthma
Childhood asthma is the same lung disease adults get, but kids often have different symptoms. Doctors also call this pediatric asthma.
If your child has asthma, their lungs and airways can easily get inflamed when they have a cold or are around things like pollen. The symptoms may make it hard for your child to do everyday activities or sleep. Sometimes, an asthma attack can result in a trip to the hospital.
Thereâs no cure for asthma in children, but you can work with your childâs doctor to treat it and prevent damage to their growing lungs.
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How Is Asthma Treatment Different For Older Children
Sometimes when asthma is suspected, the doctor will put your child on a trial of asthma medication to see if it helps. If your child gets better while taking the medicine, it can be a signal that your childs symptoms are due to asthma. The medication will depend on how severe your childs symptoms are and how often they occur.
The goal of treatment for children include:
- Managing the childs environment to avoid triggers
- Treating the airway inflammation and bronchospasm with medication
- Keeping asthma in control so activity does not need to be limited
- Teaching the child about asthma, their medications and how to be as healthy as possible in a way they can understand
When administering medication to your child, make sure to follow the instructions given to you by your doctor and on the package insert.
Will My Child Outgrow Asthma
Asthma is rarely outgrown it often persists into adulthood. However, some parents see the symptoms of asthma go away as their child grows. This could be the result of the childs lungs growing larger or the immune system adapting over time. However, sensitivity to allergens as an asthma symptom trigger may still remain. And for many, symptoms often reappear years later.
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Importance Of Air Purifier
Last but not the least, out of everything listed above, pure and fresh air is of the utmost importance for a child suffering from asthma. However, with pollution increasing day by day, breathing fresh air has become a hard nut to crack.
Well, not this time, because with air purifiers present in the market one can re-establish the right to breathe fresh and clean air. An air purifier works actively in lessening the pollutants in the air. In case one is suffering from any allergy or asthma, such pollutants in the air can worsen the condition. Air Purifiers remove smoke, dust, pollutant, and pollen from the air. And if in case you have a pet at home, air purifiers even remove pet dander from the air. In short, the absence of air purifiers will lead you to breathe air full of dust and germs, and hence it can be life-threatening too. These purifiers also leave your abode odour free, making the indoor space practically breathable.
But where will you keep searching for these godsend inventions? Well, here comes KENT with a huge range of air purifiers. So that you and your child can breathe fresh, clean and the purest air.
To know more, visit:
What Can I Do To Manage My Childs Asthma
When a baby or toddler has a chronic illness, parents can feel stressed to their limits. Here are some coping tips:
- Learn the warning signs for increasing asthma in infants and toddlers. Know your childs particular asthma symptom pattern.
- Develop an asthma care plan with your childs doctor. Make sure the plan has a course of action to follow if asthma symptoms get worse. Understand when your child needs emergency care.
- Follow your child’s Asthma Action Plan every day! Dont change the plan until you consult your health care provider. Even if your childs symptoms are gone, stick with the plan until you discuss changes with the doctor.
- Teach your toddler or preschooler to tell you when they are not feeling well.
- Work out an emergency plan of action to follow if your child has a serious asthma episode. What hospital will you use? Who will take care of your other children? How does your medical coverage provide for emergency care?
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The Differences Between Childhood And Adult
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute , asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States, or about 8 percent of the population. Seven million of them are children.
Asthma is common in childhood, but you can develop it at any point in your life. Its not uncommon for people over the age of 50 to be diagnosed with this lung disorder.
Childhood asthma and adult-onset asthma have the same symptoms, and both have similar treatments. However, children with asthma face different challenges.
Many cases of adult-onset asthma are triggered by allergies. Allergens are substances that can cause an immune reaction in people who are sensitive to them.
Children with allergies may not experience asthma from exposure to allergens when they are younger. Yet over time, their bodies can change and react differently. This can lead to adult-onset asthma.
According to the American Lung Association, of the estimated 7 million children in the United States with asthma, more than 4 million experience an asthma attack each year. Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalizations of American children age 15 and younger. Fortunately, asthma-related deaths in children are quite rare.
- difficulty sleeping
- delayed recovery from a respiratory infection, such as a flu or cold
If you suspect your childs symptoms are the result of asthma, make an appointment with their doctor. Untreated childhood asthma may have lasting impacts.
Signs And Symptoms Of Childhood Asthma
Not all children have the same asthma symptoms. A child may even have different symptoms from one episode to the next. Signs and symptoms of asthma in children include:
- A cough that doesnât go away
- Coughing spells that happen often, especially during play or exercise, at night, in cold air, or while laughing or crying
- A cough that gets worse after a viral infection
- Less energy during play, and stopping to catch their breath during activities
- Avoiding sports or social activities
- Tight neck and chest muscles
- Feeling weak or tired
- Trouble eating, or grunting while eating
Your childâs doctor should check out any illness that makes it hard for them to breathe.
Experts sometimes use the terms âreactive airways diseaseâ and âbronchiolitisâ when talking about wheezing with shortness of breath or coughing in infants and toddlers. Tests may not be able to confirm asthma in children younger than 5.
When to get emergency care
A severe asthma attack needs medical care right away. Watch for these signs:
- Stopping in the middle of a sentence to catch a breath
- Using stomach muscles to breathe
- A belly that sinks in under their ribs when they try to get air
- Chest and sides that pull in as they breathe
- Severe wheezing
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Will Your Child Outgrow Asthma
Once a person’s airways become sensitive, they remain that way for life. About half of the children who have asthma have a noticeable decrease in symptoms by the time they become adolescentsâtherefore, appearing to have “outgrown” their asthma. However, about half of these children will develop asthma symptoms again in their 30s or 40s. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict whose symptoms will decrease during adolescence and whose will return later in life.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 04/01/2019.
References
Remission And Mortality In Childhood Asthma
Asthma remission occurs most commonly between the ages of 1421 years . However, large longitudinal studies have also shown that, among children who wheezed before age 3 years, more than 50% had stopped wheezing either by 6 years of age or by 12 years of age, depending on the study. Remission rates of childhood asthma have been reported between 16 and 60% by early adulthood, according to prior longitudinal studies . The wide variation in reported remission rates is likely due to diverse study designs, varying follow-up periods, and different study populations. In longitudinal studies, children with the following characteristics had higher remission rates: episodic asthma , milder initial asthma severity, less allergic sensitization, less allergic rhinitis, less atopic dermatitis, and male sex .
While the morbidity of childhood asthma is significant, fortunately, mortality from childhood asthma is rare with an estimated 28 deaths per million children with asthma . As with childhood asthma morbidity, there are grave racial disparities in childhood asthma mortality, and black, and Hispanic children suffer disproportionately from the highest mortality rates .
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Asthma Information For Childcare Kinder Or School
To assist childcare and preschool workers and school teachers in the care of your child with asthma:
- Tell them that your child has asthma .
- Provide them with a copy of your childs asthma action plan, including emergency contact details. Make sure you provide an updated plan every year, or if your childs medication changes.The school or childcare centre will require this for enrolment.
- Show staff members how to use the medication devices, such as spacers and puffers.
- Make sure your child has an up-to-date supply of medication and a spacer at the centre or school.
- Notify staff if your childs asthma changes.
- Tell the staff about any concerns you may have.
How Do You Get Asthma
- Doctors know, however, that asthma can sometimes run in families.
- Asthma attacks can be set off by many different things, these are called triggers. Examples include cold air, vigorous exercise and stress.
- These triggers may also include âallergensâ. These are present in the environment and contain chemicals that trigger allergic reactions.
- Allergens include, for example, pollen, animal danders, house dust, pollution, some foods, perfumes and cigarette smoke.
- Allergens cause the lining of the airways to become swollen and inflamed. It produces extra mucus and the muscles of the airways tighten. There is then less room for the air to pass in and out.
- Attacks may be more frequent or severe in people who have a chest infection.
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My Baby Is Wheezing Is It Asthma
My baby is wheezing. The doctor wants her to get breathing treatments through a nebulizer. I’m worried! Could she have asthma? Audrey
Probably not. Many babies and young children wheeze due to colds or viruses and don’t develop asthma when they’re older.
Young kids are more at risk for wheezing because their airways are very small. When they get a cold or other respiratory tract infection, these already small passages swell and fill with mucus much more easily than an older child’s or an adult’s. This can cause wheezing, coughing, and other symptoms that people with asthma get.
Another thing to consider is how often your baby wheezes. One instance of wheezing isn’t enough to diagnose asthma. It must happen more than once. But even when wheezing happens a bunch of times, it still might not be asthma, especially in young children. Most kids who wheeze as infants outgrow it and don’t have asthma when they get older. So doctors usually can’t make an asthma diagnosis until children are older, by about age 4 or 5.
In the meantime, doctors will treat any asthma-like symptoms. They may prescribe asthma medicines, but probably won’t officially diagnose a child with asthma unless symptoms continue.
- wheezing that has happened more than once
- long-lasting coughing or coughing that get worse at night or after active playing
- any other breathing problem that concerns you
Severe Difficult To Control Asthma Steroid
Children that do not seem to respond to standard treatment are referred to as severe or difficult to control asthma, and these children experience substantial morbidity from asthma symptoms. To classify a child into this phenotype, the first step is to exclude an incorrect diagnosis, poor adherence to treatment, or incorrect technique with an inhaler and spacer . Supervised asthma therapy programs can be extremely useful in managing asthma symptoms and reducing healthcare utilization for children with poor medication adherence and inhaler and spacer technique . It is important to differentiate between severe therapy-resistant asthma and difficult-to-treat asthma due to comorbidities Difficult to treat asthma is a much more common reason for persistent symptoms and exacerbations and can be managed if comorbidities, such as allergic rhinitis and chronic exposure to asthma triggers, are directly targeted. Home visiting programs and assessment of the school environment are important features of the evaluation for children with concern for chronic exposure to asthma triggers . Children with persistent symptoms and exacerbations despite correct inhaler technique and good medical adherence to standard asthma therapy should be referred to an asthma specialist to consider more potent biologic therapies such as anti-IgE, anti-IL-5, or anti-IL-13 therapies and further evaluation .
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Exposure To Triggers At Work
Occupational asthma is a type of asthma caused by certain things found in the workplace, such as chemicals or dust from flour or wood.
If you havent had asthma before and then get it because of the work you do, and if your symptoms improve when youre not at work, you probably have occupational asthma.
Occupational asthma is a common cause of adult onset asthma.
Asthma And Allergies Tend To Run In Families
If theres asthma, eczema, hay fever or other allergies in your family it makes asthma more likely.
If you have asthma yourself, your child is much more likely to have asthma too, particularly if both parents have asthma. Theres slightly more chance of asthma being passed on by the mother than the father.
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How Should I Manage My Child’s Asthma
A key part of managing asthma is working with your doctor to develop an individualised written asthma action plan for your child. The plan helps you to recognise what triggers your child’s asthma, when and how to take medication, and knowing what to do if symptoms get worse.
It is also important to understand what may be causing your child’s asthma so you can reduce or remove triggers in the home.
Ask your doctor about aids and tips that will help you care for your child at home. You can talk about when and how to use medications and what devices you will need, such as inhalers and spacers, to help deliver the medication to your child’s airways.
It can also help to keep a diary to record when an asthma medication is given and when symptoms appear.
Learn as much about asthma as you can. For more information, call the Asthma Australia Information Line on 1800 278 462 to talk to a trained health professional.
Why Do People Get Asthma
Research has yet to show a definitive cause of asthma. However, researchers have determined several risk factors that can lead to asthma development.
Family History and Genetics
Children of mothers with asthma are three times more likely to suffer from asthma, and 2.5 times more likely if the father has asthma. More than 30 genes have been linked to asthma so far, and gene-gene interactions, gene-environment interactions and epigenetic modifications also play a part. Genetic differences also play a role in differences in response to treatment.
Allergies
People are more likely to have asthma if they have certain types of allergies, such ones which can affect the eyes and nose. However, not everyone who has allergies will get asthma and not everyone who has asthma is affected by allergies. Respiratory allergies and some types of asthma are related to an antibody called immunoglobulin E , which the immune system produces in response to allergens. To protect the body, the IgE causes allergic reactions that can affect the eyes, nose, throat, lungs and skin.
Premature Birth
Children born before 37 weeks are at increased risk of developing asthma later in life.
Lung Infections
Babies or small children may be at risk of developing asthma later in life if they had certain lung infections at a very early age.
Occupational Exposures
Women can develop adult-onset asthma during or after menopause.
Environment Air Quality
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