Questions & Answers
1. What do you see as one of the biggest challenges with asthma?
Individuals with asthma often have to adopt different life styles — stopping smoking, avoiding allergens, being vigilant about taking their medications — and this is hard for most individuals. Doctors also don’t generally spend enough time educating patients about how to manage their asthma, and research shows that minorities with asthma, especially children, are often not prescribed the most appropriate medications for preventing exacerbations of asthma.
Even when parents and doctors are doing their best to manage asthma, environmental factors can be hard to control. Many schools in urban areas are poorly ventilated, over heated, filled with dust and dust mites, have water damage that leads to mold, and have other environmental hazards. Schools can therefore pose a major challenge to a child with asthma. The home environment can also be challenging if there is a smoker in the house, pets, carpets, poor ventilation and other hazards. Getting landlords to remove asthma triggers is sometimes difficult.
And in spite of all the awareness of asthma, it is under-diagnosed and under-treated. Sometimes the symptoms are not the classic shortness of breath or wheezing, but may be a chronic cough. Studies also show that treatment is not always optimal, especially for minority children who are less likely to be prescribed anti-inflammatory inhalers. All of these factors together make asthma a very challenging illness.
2. Can children with asthma still exercise and engage in competitive sports?
Absolutely. In fact, exercise should be encouraged. Swimming has been found to have definite benefits in improving fitness in asthmatic children. Some studies have also shown improvement in asthma symptoms in children participating in exercise programs.
3. How do you screen for asthma?
A diagnosis of asthma is usually made based on a child’s symptoms of wheezing and shortness of breath. Screening for asthma can be done with a test called spirometry, where an individual blows into a tube that is connected to a machine that measures how well air moves in and out of the lungs. In people with asthma it takes longer for air to move in and out of the lungs.
4. Does genetics play a role in asthma?
Asthma does have a genetic or inherited component and often affects people with a family history of allergies.
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