Asthma

Asthma

Overview

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs. As a result of inflammation, the airways become hyper-responsive and narrow easily when stimulated by a wide range of triggers. This makes it more difficult to breathe freely. Asthma can be a serious condition that may have a significant impact on a person's quality of life.

In the UK, 5.2 million people are estimated to have asthma. This includes 1.1 million children (1 in 10 children) and 4.1 million adults (age 16+ years).

Symptoms and Diagnosis

In a person with asthma, the airways narrow in response to external stimuli such as pollen, dust mites, animal fur, smoke, cold air, and exercise. The smooth muscles of the bronchi (windpipes which supply air to the throat) go into spasm, and the tissues lining the airways swell from inflammation and secrete mucus. This leads to a narrowing of the airways which means that the person has to exert more effort to breathe in and out.

Asthma symptoms may vary from person to person - mild for some and severe for others. Typical symptoms include wheezing, coughing, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, night-time awakening, or a combination of these symptoms.

If a doctor suspects that a patient has asthma, based on reported symptoms, they will carry out a physical examination and breathing tests.

Treatments

Drug treatments allow most people with asthma to lead relatively normal lives. There are two main kinds of asthma treatment: relievers and preventers. Relievers are taken to relieve asthma symptoms, they relax the muscles surrounding the narrowed airways making it easier to breathe again. Preventers help to control the swelling and inflammation in the airways and help to reduce the sensitivity of the airways to asthma triggers.

Treatment should be tailored to the individual. If side effects occur, it is important to discuss these with your doctor who can look at changing the dose or changing to an alternative therapy.

What else can I do?

Identify and avoid your personal trigger factors. Common triggers include dust, feathers, cockroaches, animal dander and irritating fumes such as cigarette smoke. Often attacks triggered by exercise can be avoided if medication is taken before exercising.

Medical Information/Conditions

While there may be information on this website related to certain medical conditions and their treatment, you should promptly see your own physician or health care provider should you wish to discuss any medical condition. We do not offer personalised medical diagnosis or patient-specific treatment advice. Indeed, only your doctor or other health care professional, as a learned intermediary, can determine if a product described in this, or any, website is appropriate for you.

Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis

In recent years there has been growing recognition of the close association between asthma and allergic rhinitis. Both conditions frequently overlap and involve the same tissues and common inflammatory processes. Allergic rhinitis is a disease of the upper airways characterised by the inflammation of the nasal passages. Many patients with asthma also have allergic rhinitis. Various survey results have shown that up to 80% of asthma patients had co-existing allergic rhinitis.

SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS

The symptoms of allergic rhinitis can include a blocked, itchy and runny nose and sneezing. In some cases, these symptoms can be severe and may adversely affect a person's social life and work.

Allergic rhinitis can be seasonal, perennial or occupational:

Seasonal rhinitis, popularly referred to as 'hay fever', is triggered by pollen in the air and fungal spores at differing times of the year.
Perennial rhinitis occurs all-year round and is usually triggered by allergens like dust mites or animal dander.
Occupational rhinitis is a result of exposure in the workplace to some kind of air-borne irritant that may cause either an allergic reaction or non-allergic hyper-responsiveness.

TREATMENTS

Treatment of allergic rhinitis has traditionally focussed on the use of antihistamines. For patients with both allergic rhinitis and asthma, an ideal management strategy combines the treatment of both the upper and lower airway conditions.

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?

Identify and avoid your personal triggers, e.g. indoor allergens such as house mites and outdoor allergens such as pollen or moulds.

MEDICAL INFORMATION/CONDITIONS

While there may be information on this website related to certain medical conditions and their treatment, should a medical condition exist, you should consider seeing your own physician or healthcare provider. We do not offer personalised medical diagnosis or patient-specific treatment advice. Indeed, only your doctor or other healthcare professional can determine if a medicine described in this, or any, website is appropriate for you.

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RESEARCH

It costs about £550 million over 12 years to bring one medicine from discovery in a laboratory to the patient.

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